Month: March 2025

11 March 2025

We’re back in “winter” weather, such as it is in South Florida with a morning temperature of 58°F and a predicted low tonight of 57°F. Spring was short lived. The high winds blew enough leaves into the pool that I emptied the pump basket and cleaned out the skimmer. Gusts are down to 26 mph this morning but I’ll be cleaning more leaves from the pool for the next few days.

Years ago, when I was teaching, I tried to give my students a preview of things to come since the advent of DNA testing, genome mapping of the human chromosomes, and RNA advances. In today’s New York Times was an article that gave credence to my lectures. Since the advances I mentioned above, the Holy Grail of medicine is to correct genetic defects. Today’s article will alter the way we will view medicine forever.

Like my friend Maureen asked, “For us science amateurs… what does this mean?  – M”. Let’s say someone has sickle cell anemia. It’s due to an autosomal (not the sex chromosomes) recessive gene (you must get one recessive gene from your mother and one recessive gene from your father to exhibit sickle cell). The mutation of the gene that causes sickle cell is a point mutation where one base pair on a DNA molecule is wrong. This new therapy leads to the possibility to change the one base pair out for the correct base pair, thus eliminating sickle cell. This is a game changer in science and medicine. Instead of taking a sledge hammer to change mutations, it’s like using micro laser surgery to correct problems. This is just the opening act and will lead to major corrections of multiple base pair mutations. Literally, the sky is the limit.

I don’t often wax so poetically about science “advancements” but this is the real deal and will change how medicine is practiced forever.

The rest of this week is clear after I pick up prescriptions and go grocery shopping. Next week is full of doctors’ appointments, a trip to John Knox Village, and a friend’s birthday celebration. I also need to pack for my upcoming trip.

As is becoming usual, I stayed up too late last night and got up too late this morning. I admit to lying in bed for an hour before getting up. It’s kinda nice!

Stay tuned!

10 March 2025

Ugh! Still feeling the after effects of the dryer vent fiasco and adding to that with daylight savings time effects. Before I retired, it took me a very long time to get used to the time change. Since I retired, I adapt a little better but I still have trouble adjusting. There are so many pros and cons for sticking with one or the other time. The change one way or the other would affect both health and economics of the country. My personal opinion is to go back to standard time throughout the U.S.

Today was lunch with Joel, Keith, Greg and Michael at Rosies. It’s always good to see Greg and Michael (I see Joel and Keith more regularly). Greg taught business and economics on my campus and he retired close to the time I did. He and Michael are great conversationlists and Greg and Keith have a lot in common with a dual Canadian/American citizenship. There were two orders of the famous BLT at Rosies, and I sent a photo to Wade to make him jealous.

Really folks, this is the best BLT on the planet. I think they had to kill three hogs to get the amount of bacon they go through in a single day. Pair that with sweet potato fries and you have two meals.

They have a special sauce that sets it off and you can have an avocado slice with it if you like. This is a handful to eat and almost everyone takes half home for later.

Michael is an artist and Greg, in addition to being a retired business/economics professor is a professional photographer. Both are very well traveled and that’s another thing they have in common with Keith who used to be a travel agent. Now we are all retired old men always willing to get together to catch up with each other over some good food.

We managed to miss the rain at lunch at Rosies. It is quite windy today with gusts up to 31 mph but Rosies natural vegetation provided a wind break.

There have been reports of tornados in Central Florida and we are predicted rain from 4-6 pm today in South Florida. If you think I concentrate too much on weather, just realize I’ve been through 4 hurricanes in Florida, two while at sea on the CGC Reliance, out of Corpus Christi, Texas, and numerous tornados in Mississippi. As a kid, there were many times Archie and I huddled in a basement with our parents until the danger passed. Let’s just say I have a strong appreciation for how dangerous Mother Nature can be.

One year, I was a counselor at Scout Camp Kickapoo near Clinton, Mississippi. I was teaching a Nature merit badge and was under a dinning tarp. Along came what I much later understood to be a microburst of wind which pretty much flattened all the tents in the area. It was a massive downdraft of air. It was gone as quickly as it arrived. I spent the rest of the period having the scouts in my class setting up all the tents in the Scoutcraft area that had been flattened. Fortunately, no one in the camp was injured.

Tomorrow I need to grocery shop and pick up prescriptions at two different locations. At this rate, I won’t be too long getting to the $2000 deductible that went into effect this year.

Stay tuned!

9 March 2025

Oof! Brunch at the Dune was a waste of time and money. At least we got a good view of the ocean. The entrance to the restaurant was a good hike from the valet. You had to valet and you had to provide a phone number for a text. Once the valet took your fob, you had to figure out the direction to the restaurant.

Once you made it down the runway, you entered to bar area.

I had requested an outside table. We got a great view of the Atlantic.

There were plenty of people in the restaurant and on the beach. Sadly, the food was just meh. The $21 Bloody Mary was pretty good but I’d pass on any of their meals. The hostess told John that the restaurant would close March 31. With their bad food, no wonder.

I am so sore from yesterday cleaning the dryer vent. I cleaned it quickly but when I went to put the vent hose back on, I couldn’t get it to stay even with an “O” clamp. It took me an hour of kneeling down and trial and error – mostly error – to get it reattached. Not only are my hips and knees sore today but so are my feet. I can hardly walk on them because I spent most of the time on the balls of my feet.

Add to that and it took me from 10 am until 5 am to finish washing and drying and folding the clothes. Part of the reason is a normal wash in my machine is 58 minutes. Add time if it finds an unbalanced load. Add more time as you try to readjust the load, and even more time after you take half of the wash out and let the cycle run, put that in the dryer and wash the other half. Mechanics and machinery are conspiring against me.

On a good note, Chris came over to deliver something to me after I got home from brunch. We both had commiserated about how hard it is to get up and down when doing tasks in the yard. In particular, I have trouble getting up when I clean out the skimmer in the pool. He said he had the answer – a bench that works both as a bench and a kneeling platform. I fully intended to buy one but forgot. He brought me a brand new one – and it included a pair of work gloves!

To use the kneeling part, just flip it over. It’s genius. What a great gift!

Tomorrow is lunch at Rosies. Stay tuned!

8 March 2025

Is it me or is March racing to the end? February, the shortest month, seemed long. March has 31 days and it’s like it’s almost over. Regardless, it’s another beautiful day. I should feel guilty for all those animal species up north called snow birds but I can’t. It’s just too nice down here.

Yesterday, I finished all my chores in about two hours. I didn’t realize it took so much time to clean the pool filter, hose down the deck, check the pool chemicals, water plants, and spray for weeds. I wasn’t trying to break a speed record but I thought I was quicker. Another sign of old age.

On today’s walk, a neighbor had two interesting plants. The first was Clusia.

I’ve blogged about this before but this is the first photo I have of the fruit before it opens into a dry capsule. It’s called autograph tree because you can etch your names in the leaves and they stay on the plant for an exceedingly long time. It’s native to Florida.

In the same yard, I found a sapodilla.

When in this stage, the fruit when picked exudes latex from the stem known as chicle, used in the manufacture of chewing gum. The ripened fruit is sweet and malty.

Today is wash day. I plan to take my time with it and relax in between washer/dryer events. I’m also supposed to clean the dryer vent this morning so that will take a little time.

Tomorrow, I’m going to brunch with John at Dune. It’s on the beach so we should have a great ocean view. John doesn’t usually go in for these fancy places but I think he’s turned over a new leaf.

Monday, I meet a former colleague from South Campus, his partner, and Keith for lunch at Rosies. After that, the week calms down a little.

Stay tuned!

7 March 2025

Another beautiful day with the temperature dipping down to 50°F this morning. It was 55°F when I started my morning walk (1.5 miles) and warmed to 65°F by the time I finished.

Last night I started a tv binge with White Lotus and finished with several episodes of Younger. You’d think that this woman posing as 26 would finally out herself as a 40 year old but I guess the series would be over. At least I’m finding some tv that holds my interest – as mindless as it is.

Have you ever tried to photograph a spider’s web? I’ve had mixed success over the years and I’ve never really been fully pleased. Today is no different but I found one on the edge of the house that turned out OK.

These are all over the yard and I’m constantly walking into their webs. They are harmless and really too small to bite you. It would have been nice to photograph it with dew on the web. They are sometimes referred to as orb weavers.

While having coffee on the back patio, I noticed Asparagus Fern in bloom. I guess spring is truly here in South Florida – my orange tree bloomed, the mangoes have bloomed and now the Asparagus Fern.

Of course, it’s not a fern but a monocot. It’s closely related to the Asparagus you eat and I suppose you could eat the young shoots of this. However, it tends to get very woody very quickly.

Today is clean-the-pool-filter day, hose off the patio, spray for weeds, and check the chemicals in the pool. After that, I predict a nap.

Stay tuned!

6 March 2025

Apparently March is coming in like a lion in Mississippi. Maybe it’ll go out like a lamb when I visit the last week of March. In any case, it’ll be nice to be back in the state during the spring, probably my favorite season in the state.

Last night’s movie was Hidden Figures with Octavia Spenser, Taraji Henson, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, and Jim Parsons. It’s about three young black women who are “computers” for NASA in that they spend their time doing calculations. Taraji Henson plays Katherine Goble Johnson who is a math prodigy who is able to do analytic geometry. She’s pulled from the all black computer pool to work on the space shots in the 60’s. It’s her calculations that allow for John Glenn to go into orbit around the earth. Glenn trusts her figures. Janelle Monáe is pulled from the pool to join the engineering team. Octavia Spencer becomes the supervisor of the IBM mainframe.

Costner is excellent as the head of the space program at Langley, Jim Parsons is the heavy, opposed to Katherine Goble Johnson. Octavia Spencer is outstanding in her role as the non-supervisor, supervisor of the computer group. She learns about the new IBM being installed, sees an end to the hand calculations of the computer group and trains them on the new IBM to insure they have jobs.

The movie is based on a true story and I’m sure they took liberties with the truth but this is an amazing and moving film.

Tucker was a perfect gentleman. Somehow, Chris and I managed to knock off an entire bottle of wine last night. I’ll blame it on her. It might have been encouraged with the homemade bread, hot out of the oven, for snacks with the wine. Tucker got his usual treats.

Now, for you viewing enjoyment, a short film for your entertainment.

These are two male, black spiny tail lizards fighting over territory. Ironic since it’s my territory, not theirs.

Stay tuned!

5 March 2025

“The road to hell….”

…and I really did have good intentions this morning. I was awake at 5 am and listened for the sprinklers to come on. When I didn’t hear them, I went outside to check. No, they were not sprinkling. I then remembered they didn’t come on until 6 am. Back to bed. I slept until 7:45 when I had a phone call that I let go to voicemail.

I got out of bed around 8 and started my routine totally discombobulated. I did everything wrong. At least I remembered my meds and insulin injection.

I checked the voicemail and it was a friend who was as discombobulated as I when he thought he was calling me at 7:45 pm. I tried to finish my morning routine before I called him back. He’s like many of us in our upper 70’s and 80’s where carrying out basic tasks becomes more onerous. Also like many of us, we don’t want to change our routines, housing, healthcare, etc. The saga continues. All I know to do is be there as a friend.

I ordered groceries yesterday from Publix and strangely they were out of individual grapefruit and blueberries. As I wrote yesterday, I ordered those items from Whole Foods and a chicken sandwich from KFC.

I realize it’s an extravagance to order groceries and dinner for delivery. There’s always a tip that I add and even though, for the most part, there’s no delivery charge it adds up. I’m sure they also raise the prices on the items to compensate for not shopping in store. However, both the flu and Norovirus (thanks cruise ships) are rampant in Broward County. I’m playing it safe and trying to stay away from crowds. I do take a chance when I go out with friends for lunch or dinner but we often sit outside when the opportunity arises. I don’t feel my immune system is back to full strength and don’t want to take a chance.

Tonight is movie night! I think we are going to try to see the movie Hidden Figures. I’ll let you know what we see.

Now, it’s time to clean the house.

Stay tuned!

4 March 2025

The IRS deposited my refund in my checking account this morning. If I remember correctly, I went to Boca Raton on February 17th to sign the return and have them e-file it. That has to be a speed record! I especially wanted to get the taxes completed because if they hit the IRS with 7,000 layoffs, who knows when people will get their tax returns back?

I started out pretty good this morning with a 1.5 mile walk. About a third of the way, it started to sprinkle (more of a spritz) and when I got back to the house it started to pour. Excellent timing. I was eating my grapefruit, working the crossword puzzle and drinking my second cup of coffee on the patio when I had to move inside because of a driving rain. We really need the rain so I wasn’t disappointed to not do my swim today. As of this writing, it still looks like we are in for some more rain.

As I was passing one of my favorite yards, I caught sight of a beautiful Vanda in bloom.

As I took the photo, the home owner rounded the corner. We had a long talk about things in the neighborhood, our health, getting older, and other sundry items. He’s always been very friendly and I found he’s been in his home since 1995 – when I bought my house.

As I mentioned before, I added water to the pool from 4 pm – 7 pm last night and it worked out perfectly. I didn’t mind the extra little bit the rain added. The only question is how high will my water bill be?

I also sat down and ordered groceries. Strangely, Publix seems to have a shortage of individual grapefruit and also of blueberries. I suspect the warehouse doesn’t have them but the actual stores do. I intend to order those items from Whole Foods.

Today is my cousin Jean’s birthday! I pretty much grew up at their house in Morton and I’ve always been very close to the three sisters. Happy Birthday, Jean and many more!

Stay tuned!

3 March 2025

Thanks to my cousin Jimmie for reminding me that I wasn’t as much of a slug as I thought. Maybe today proves it. I managed 1.4 miles, did yoga stretches and finally got into the pool for 350 strokes. Just as a point of reference, I normally do 700 strokes so halfway is pretty good for my first time back in a while. Let’s see if I can get out of bed tomorrow with all the aches and pains from today’s exercise.

After the walk and before yoga, I balanced my checking account. It sounds simple but it never seems to work out for me. I did zero everything but I was off by around $1300 and had to reconcile the account. The good news is it was in my favor. Invariably, I’ll forget to post something in MoneyDance and have to add it in. Maybe that’s why I never went into accounting.

For the first time ever, my Chinese Fan Palm is getting ready to bloom.

It’s a very slow growing palm. I think I planted it about 25 years ago. It was a gift from Tom and Kurt. The inflorescence (flower stalk) can get up to 3.3 feet. This photo shows no blooms at the moment but I can tell it’ll be a large set of flowers. I can’t wait until it gets in full bloom.

It’s not too unusual for palms to not produce flowers until many years of growth. Fairchild Tropical Garden grows talipot palms (Corypha umbraculifera). The palm can grow for 60 years before blooming and produces the largest flower inflorescence in the world. They can grow up to 82 feet in height.

I was fortunate on one of my visits to Fairchild to see one of their talipots in bloom. It was magnificent. Sadly, after blooming the palm tree dies. One and done.

Later, I need to add water to the pool. Apparently water rates have skyrocketed since my last bill so who knows how big of a loan I’ll have to take out to keep water in the pool. It’s also getting ordering groceries time again. I keep having them delivered since flu is rampant in Broward County and I just don’t want to come down with that. Yes, I’m vaccinated (for everything)!

Stay tuned!

2 March 2025

I suppose March is coming in like a lamb in South Florida but I’m not sure how we would know since this is our perfect weather part of the calendar. The beginning of March is pretty much like the end of March – mid-60’s as lows and high 70’s as highs with plenty of sunshine.

I amaze myself. I’ve managed to laze away another morning. I got out of bed around 9, had two breakfasts and worked most of the New York Times Sunday crossword. I really need to get back into an exercise routine.

I spent most of my early childhood as a nerdy couch potato. When I joined the Boy Scouts, it at least got me out on hikes. Since then, I’ve been pretty good about exercising. I’m still nerdy but at least I was someone who could snowshoe at 9,000 feet. Now I seem to be regressing to couch potato status.

I got up late because I started binging a series on Netflix called Younger. It’s about a recently divorced woman who poses as a 26 year old instead of a 40 year old in order to get a job – age descrimination much? . She snags a hot tattoo artist boy friend and spends most of her time trying to keep people from finding out her real age.

I didn’t think I would like it but the episodes are short, they move fast from one episode to the next and it’s well acted. I think I went through about 8 of them last night. Try it, I think you’ll like it.

As you might guess, I’ve started watching more tv because of the one in the bedroom. I used to spend all my time reading. Now it’s about 1/3 tv, 1/3 reading and 1/3 scrolling Instagram. Instagram is habit forming and they should name it a class I drug. I waste a huge amount of time on the app.

I have two more weeks of no doctors’ appointments. The only thing I have is lunch at Rosies at noon on Monday, the 10th. Hardly a hardship.

Stay tuned!