Everything Fred – Part 172

2 December 2023

I seem to be consistently getting six hours of sleep at night. I was a little worried last night. I watched the movie Kinky Boots while sitting for a prolonged period on the couch and could tell my tail was not liking it. If you haven’t seen either the movie or the musical, it’s a great movie based on a true story.

In any case, I read a while in bed after the movie and promptly went to sleep. Only as I was about to get up did I start to feel some lower back and leg pain. Once I got moving it got better.

In reading the New York Times this morning, there was a great video interview with Sandra Day O’Connor. It’s a short interview but reveals a great deal about her inner thoughts on major decisions of the Supreme Court.

Another article in the Times that I thought exceptionally interesting was a run down on Larry McMurtry’s works. I had forgotten how many great books he had written. One of my favorites is still The Last Picture Show.

I find it interesting that even though I scan the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Miami Herald, and the Sun-Sentinel every morning, there are only a handful of articles during the week that I like to read (or view) in depth. Of course, the New York Times and the Washington Post has the best written articles and the most gravitas.

When I used to be a student worker at the periodicals section of the Ole Miss library back in the 60’s, the go-to source for undergrads and grads was the New York Times. That was the first thing in the morning, if you got the opening shift, that you did – put out the newspapers because someone would immediately want the newest NYT.

I really liked working in the periodicals section. I actually liked shelving the loose issues of the magazines and papers because I could scan the table of contents of each as I shelved and see if there were any articles I wanted to return to read when off work. I actually tried to concentrate on periodicals when I went to graduate school for my Masters of Library and Information Science at Florida State University.

That’s also why I got involved with Stonewall Library and Archives in the 90’s. I wanted to make some sense of their periodicals which were an unorganized mess. All their periodicals were stored in boxes in a storage facility. We later wrote a grant that was funded by the state of Florida (Democratic governor) and a national charity to put in compact shelving for the periodicals.

I feel pretty good today. I even felt pretty good yesterday and Pat, the nurse who provided my infusion, said she could tell it in my voice. On the way in to get the infusion, I met Dr. Velez in the hallway and I told him Amy Spear (acupuncturist) said to say hello. He asked how I was doing and when I responded, he said it was all smooth sailing from here on out, that I was through the rough stuff.

Actually, even though I feel well, I’ve come to think that the trouble with my walking is not the peripheral neuropathy (solely) but may have more to do with a pinched nerve in the lower back. My buttocks and thighs and calves seem to ache and I’m weak in the legs. That’s why the chiropractor wanted an MRI. I’ll find out if my GP will approve it on December 6th.

Staggering all over the house, I managed to get the house semi-clean, linen changed, and a load of wash on. Funny how wash day seems to fall on Saturdays. As I’ve mentioned before, my Grandmother Searcy used to wash on Saturdays. Doing anything household on Sundays was taboo.

When it rains, it pours. I’ve mentioned the pool heater will not ignite and I have a service all in to AC/DC Pools. At first, she forgot I called them. Then when she scheduled it for this Monday, it looked like I was going to get it working. However, when I went to clean the pool filter, the top of the filter unit would not come off.

The black structure at the top is called a locking knob. In trying to remove the upper third (filter head) I kept turning the locking knob but it would not release the filter head.

I checked out YouTube for videos on what to do, and yes, they had some videos on what to do. I went back out and tried again and even tried to pry it off (YouTube) to no avail. I then decided I’d just run the system for a while. I failed to realize that the locking knob didn’t engage and the filter head was not really secure. The filter head blew off with a great deal of pressure. Fortunately for me, it went off to the right. If it had come straight up in the air, it would probably have knocked me out.

The only thing to do was call Pools ‘n More and have them send someone out to repair the filter system. They will show up on Monday. The problem is the pool heater people cannot work on the pool heater unless the filter system is operable. I had to cancel the pool heater people until Pools ‘n More can repair the filter system.

Not only that, but I have the jeep recall on Monday and a chiropractor appointment later in the afternoon. Fortunately, I don’t have to be on the premises for Pools ‘n More. He asked if they needed to call me before starting any repairs and I said no because if the pool filter system doesn’t work, the pool is out of business. It has to be repaired, no matter what.

I’m just glad this week is over. It’s been rough. I can hope Dr. Velez is right and I’ve turned a corner. Stay tuned!