Everything Fred – Part 230

9 February 2024

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I know better. I was feeling really good this morning when I got up and decided I wanted to do my morning walk. While on the walk, I ran into an old friend. I haven’t seen this bloom in a while.

Red passion flower (Passiflora coccinea)

I did OK (1.2 miles) but my legs and feet were giving out on me by the time I got back to the house. I had my half of grapefruit and a second cup of coffee and knew I needed to clean the pool filter.

Well, before I cleaned the pool filter, I raked leaves. Then it was tough to get the debris out of pump strainer. Some leaves get caught in the impeller. That meant stooping down for way too long. My quadriceps were screaming at me near the end. At least I could sit when I washed the filter.

When they came to repair the filter system, I asked about a small, flat piece that had two holes in it. He explained it went over the steel rod and the plastic tubing in the filter housing. I guess over the years, that piece had worked its way down to the bottom of the filter housing and I’d never seen it. When he put it on, I had a eureka moment. From the time I bought the house and started maintaining the pool (30 years) I’ve had a devil of a time putting the filter back in the housing because it was difficult to align the plastic tube close enough to the steel rod for the filter to fit.

Who knew such a simple fix could make my life so much easier!

Next up was water the flowers. It’s been a while since we’ve had some rain and they looked sad. After the flowers, I hosed down the patio deck. Then it was time to check the chemicals. By this time it was 10 am, I was dead on my feet and I had an 11:50 am physical therapy appointment where Shannon was going to put me through exercises that would rework all the muscles I had just worked out.

After canceling physical therapy, I added to my misery by spraying for weeds in both the front and back and then checking out the sprinkler system. It’s been over a month since I’ve used the sprinklers because Joel’s Camry was sitting in the drive (it was too long to fit in my garage). Our well water has a heavy amount of iron and if you let it hit your car, you get an orange tint that is really difficult to get off.

About six of the sprinklers could use a complete reworking but I didn’t have the energy. They work – just not as well as they should. I’ll do those another day I don’t have physical therapy. They’ll go off tomorrow morning around 5 am.

I made a quick lunch of scrambled eggs and toast and promptly crawled into bed. I was exhausted. I dozed for about 1 1/2 hours. You’d think I’d be smart enough to learn my lesson, but no!

They did deliver one of my western shirts with snaps instead of buttons. It’s a good fit in the shoulders but a little tight around the torso. I may change the next shirt to a large instead of a medium.

I like the snaps better than trying to fool with buttons. I’m ready for the rodeo!

Stay tuned!

Author: searcyf@mac.com

After 34 years in the classroom and lab teaching biology, I'm ready to get back to traveling and camping and hiking. It's been too long of a break. I miss the outdoors and you can follow my wanderings on this blog.

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