Travels with Fred

25 April 2024

It was a restless night – one of those that required a pee break every hour on the hour. I have no idea why, just that I seemed to need to urinate a lot last night. I predict a nap in my future today.

Last night was Key Largo with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor and Lionel Barrymore. It was released in 1948 so it’s as old as I am. Claire Trevor won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1948 as an alcoholic night club singer. What I didn’t realize is that it was the fourth and last pairing of Bogie and Bacall. The first three were To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, and Dark Passage. I’ve seen all of them and To Have and Have Not is the best of the four.

I wasn’t too impressed with Bacall’s performance, but then it could have just been the vehicle. Bogie played Bogie and Barrymore played Barrymore – always in the wheel chair.

I think the thing I most identify with is the shooting location – supposedly in Key Largo, Florida. It was filmed entirely in Hollywood using Hollywood magic with the exception of some clips showing the bridges over the Keys, but there is a certain magic to the Keys.

Tucker behaved himself but pouted that Chris cut him off at four treats. Of course, the pout was for me since I’m feeding him the treats. At one time, he even huffed at me.

My echocardiogram is set for the 15th of May, the day after my May Herceptin infusion. Might as well get all that done when I get back. I haven’t received a call about the orthopedist so I wonder if I was supposed to do that on my own. My ankle is still sore and tender but better today.

By the way, the Katharine Hepburn brownies are just OK. They certainly did come out gooey. I don’t think I’ll make the recipe again but it was fun to make.

Sometime today, I’ll start the packing process for the trip. My main concern is taking some food with me to Roosevelt State Park since there’s not a lot of options in the nearby town of Morton for eating out. Usually on these trips a cup of oatmeal and coffee are fine for breakfast but lunch and dinner could be a problem. I’ll pack some freeze-dried food as a precaution.

The main chore is getting the suitcase down from the overhead in the utility room. That means climbing up on a ladder and you know my statistics on that. I’ll be extra careful and hopefully make it without falling off.

Stay tuned!

24 April 2024

Where has April gone? It seemed to go by so fast! At least I feel better today. I did a light clean of the house: vacuum, mop, bathroom, trashcans, etc. and then tackled the inside of the refrigerator. Something on a top shelf leaked and coated every shelf under it in red. It wasn’t blood (I don’t keep meat anywhere near the top shelf) and I couldn’t find anything leaking as I removed stuff but it took a while to get the thing clean.

I don’t mind cleaning a fridge if it is not too dirty but when it was like this, it’s a real chore. Not that I clean it very often.

I did order a walker today. I didn’t realize how complicated it is to select the proper one. I chose a standard (no wheels) as it gives the greatest support. Then you have to worry about what type of handles you want on it. Next it’s setting the proper height – arms should form a 15° angle with the walker’s top. You step into the walker with your weakest foot (my left) but don’t extend it past the walker. You then follow with the other foot by pressing down with your hands on the top of the walker. Whew! I’m tired of thinking of it.

After cleaning, I headed to Walgreens to pick up my happy pills (Cymbalta – double the old dose) and then to Publix to pick up my Lyrica prescription. The difference in pricing from Walgreens ($112.38) to Publix ($14.14) is amazing. Dr. Velez recommended using GoodRx and I think I’ll definitely start comparing pricing with that app.

I can only hope Dr. Velez is correct and that the combination of Lyrica and Cymbalta will help alleviate the neuropathy problem. It was exceedingly painful last night – both feet and hands. Today, it’s not nearly as bad as yesterday.

While at Publix I stopped for some chicken tenders and potato wedges. I was hungry and not very particular. The parking lot at noon was totally filled. It’s my “old” Publix that I don’t shop any more unless it’s an emergency and it certainly has gotten a lot more busy,.

Tonight is movie night with Chris and her time to choose the film. We both will have to keep an eye on Tucker. Last week, I went to the bathroom and Chris went to the kitchen and while we were both gone, Tucker reached up on the coffee table (no small task for his small size) and seized the bag of treats that Chris brought over. He was put in time out and given a severe talking to.

This morning’s New York Times had a recipe for Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies. I was intrigued and clicked on it. The recipe is simplicity itself although it does dirty a few dishes.

Here’s the recipe.

1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I used pecans)
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325°F

Melt butter in saucepan with cocoa and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes then transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in eggs one at a time and stir in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, nuts and salt. Add to the cocoa-butter mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour into a greased 8 x 8 inch square pan. Bake 30-35 minutes. Do not overtake. The brownies should be gooey when cooled. Cut into bars and enjoy.

Stay tuned!

22 April 2024

Today has not started out the best. I don’t feel well. The neuropathy in my left had has decided to be painful and my foot neuropathy is playing catch up to the hand. My ankle is still sore and I’m limping around the house.

I called first thing to schedule Herceptin infusions. Apparently, I have to wait on a call from “infusion scheduling” in order to get anything done. I’ve begun to wonder if anyone in the world is designated to answer an actual question on the behalf of a patient. You seem to be channeled over to someone else every time.

I also called the doctor’s nurse, Danielle and left a message with her. Speaking of the doctor, chem fog is real. I ran across a name in my address book a few days ago and didn’t recognize it. It also didn’t have any accompanying information with the entry and I was about to delete the contact when I realized the name was of my hematologist/oncologist. I’ve only been seeing him for almost a year.

Hopefully they will get the infusion problem solved. I don’t know why it falls to me to schedule infusions since I don’t know how long I’m to have them other than sometime in August of this year. I certainly don’t have the authority to order more on my own. You’d think the hematologist/oncologist who ordered them would re-order any that are needed.

The reason this is important is Jimmie and I scheduled our trip to Mississippi based on my infusions. May 1 would have given me plenty of time to recover from tomorrow’s supposedly scheduled infusion and I would return to Fort Lauderdale a couple of days before my next one. If they don’t get me in rather quickly, it’ll throw the schedule off.

I also have physical therapy today at 1:50 pm. I’m not sure what I can do with two sprained ankles but I’ll see what Shannon suggests. Right now, I’m borderline canceling everything and going back to bed.

We are scheduled for some needed rain today. Otherwise I’ll have to add water to the pool. We are predicted for 100% today but when you look at the breakdown, it’s scheduled for late this afternoon and only 15-20%. I’m not sure how they predict 100% rain and then say it’s 15-20% but I’m not a weatherman.

Sorry to be in such a whinny mood today. It’s just one of those days you want to curl up in a fetal position and stay there. I promise to do better.

Stay tuned!

21 April 2024

I have no idea what happened yesterday but it was like I ran into a brick wall. John brought over BOGO from HoneyBaked Ham and after we ate, we were sitting around talking (actually, he was sitting, I was folding clothes) and I started to feel badly. The neuropathy in my hands and feet started to ache and something made me nauseous. I told John I was going to lie down. He’s good about taking a hint. I hate I did that to him but it couldn’t be helped. I stayed in bed pretty much the rest of the day. I didn’t even get to FaceTime with Jimmie.

Today I feel a little better but not to the extent I have in the last few days. I did get 8 hours of sleep. I decided to try to walk a little this morning but realized when I started out I wasn’t going very far. I did manage to walk the equivalent of “around the block” but headed back to the house after that. My ankles are still very sore. The one thing I did notice that a neighbor had crashed his truck or either someone ran into him. There was a lot of front end damage to his new pickup.

I also realized that I’m not scheduled for Herceptin treatments. This happens periodically. They schedule me for a bunch and then I don’t realize they haven’t continued scheduling them for me even though I put them on my calendar. Monday I need to call and see if they can schedule me some more appointments. I probably need to see how many they do and put a reminder on my calendar to call them again and schedule.

My main concern is they will not be able to work me in on Tuesday which will throw off my May trip schedule. I’ve tried to schedule the trip around the Herceptin treatments so there is enough time to get over the effects of the treatment before I go on the trip.

I need to pick up a prescription today. It seems that’s a very frequent occurrence. At least the pharmacists know me by sight now. I’ll also probably stop and pick up some groceries.

Every day, when I go through my daily routines, I feel older. I remember what it was like when my grandparents got to the point that simple things because difficult. Just as an example, when making the bed this morning, I picked up a pillow and my arthritis in my hands let me know I did it wrong. How have I gotten to the point that I can pick up a pillow incorrectly? I’ve also learned I cannot turn around too quickly unless I want to lose my balance. Bending over to pick something up off the floor is like doing a complicated yoga exercise. I’ve learned not to try to throw something in a garbage can from a distance. Instead, I walk over to it, get dead center and drop the item close to the lip. I guess the good news is I can still move pillows and still pick things up off the floor.

Stay tuned for more aches and pains.

20 April 2024

I had a wonderful night last night. Tom and Kurt came over for a swim, cocktails, and dinner. That’s the first dinner “party” I’ve hosted since Wade pretty much did everything on Thanksgiving – and before that – probably since the pandemic. I forgot what a good time I had hosting people over at the house.

Tom is fridge-a-phobic so I cranked the heater on the pool to 94 degrees (normally 84) and it was kinda like a hot tub. Even I admit it was nice. The new handrail came in, shall we say, handy – for all three of us.

I made them martinis with a vodka from the Ukraine. I have no idea where I got that – it had to be a gift to me. Tom and Kurt brag on me at the bars in Wilton Manors and tell everyone I make the best martinis. When they ask what I do differently, he can’t say. What I do is crush the ice that I chill the glasses with and shake the martinis with. Then I pour a tad of Vermouth into each glass instead of water. When I get ready to fill the glass with martini, I toss the ice and Vermouth in the glass. It just gives a hint of Vermouth. That could be it but I suspect it also has something to do with my martinis being free.

For dinner, I roasted a chicken according to Ina Garten’s recipe for “Jeffrey’s Roast Chicken.” It is so easy and never fails. I did do one extra thing. Years ago I accidentally discovered that if you put okra in with the chicken in the cast iron skillet that the okra cooks in the chicken juices and become crunchy with a wonderful taste. I did almost a whole pack of okra. When I took the chicken out, I put the okra on a sheet pan and kept cooking until crispy and served that as an appetizer. Both Tom and I are from the South so it was red neck caviar to us. Even Kurt, a Yankee, liked it.

I made gravy from the chicken drippings and then made a huge bowl of rice. The chicken was perfect and the gravy was excellent. I’ll make chicken salad with the left over chicken. I’ll also be eating rice for days.

We sat outside enjoying the beautiful weather at the table that Tom and Kurt gifted me. After dinner, we sat around and had a glass of wine and talked like we haven’t in years. Tom and Kurt are early-to-bed-ers. Yet they stayed until almost 10 pm. I was tired but so happy that I felt good enough to host them.

This morning, I’m a little tired. I’ve changed the linen, put on a wash, and cleaned out the bottom of the linen closet to make room for more paper towels, Kleenex, and toilet paper. There will be no house cleaning today since I did some Wednesday and Friday. I plan to curl up with a book until 3 pm when Jimmie and I will talk.

Stay tuned!

19 April 2024

Semper Paratus! Shades of my Coast Guard days. My friend Jim Monko of the CGC Reliance sent me an article about Jerry Burleson sending out the last Morse Code signals on March 31, 1995 that ended 100 years of sending code.

The Brunswick News… “TC1 Jerry Burleson was one of the last three Coastguardsman to send and receive Morse Code Signals by the USCG…. The Ceremony marked the passing of an era. 31 March 1995.” The Rest of the Story… “On 31 March 1995, Coast Guard Communication Area Master Station Atlantic sent a final message by Morse Code and then signed off, officially ending more than 100 years of telegraph communications. Three operator’s used their skills to regretfully end a tradition of Coast Guard communications services to all nations. The operator’s names and ranks were: Telecommunication Specialist First Class Jerry D. “Burly” Burleson; Telecommunication Specialist Second Class Timothy L. Hilf; Telecommunication Specialist Third Class Sergio M. Morales. At 010030Z APR 95 the last message was delivered to those that were copying the Morse code signals by the three operator’s. Once completed, the operator’s secured the equipment carrying out the order given by the Commanding Officer Captain Freddy L. Montoya. The official logs and Morse code hand keys are on display at CAMSLANT Chesapeake ending the era of pounding brass and sparking clicks.

I’ve mentioned before that I was a radioman in the Coast Guard and although we had voice and teletype communications back in the 70’s we still sent and received Morse Code.

Many of the ships of that day didn’t have teletype and voice communications was range limited. The most effective long distance communication was Morse Code. We always maintained a 24/7 watch on 500 kHz, the international distress frequency and over the four years of my CG enlistment, I copied two SOS’s of ships in distress.

After enough time, you could recognize individuals by how they sent the code on their hand key. You developed a rhythm and each person’s was unique. There were several that I really enjoyed copying their code because you could read their rhythm and their messages were always readable and you didn’t have to ask for repeats. Then there were those that liked to use a speed key and weren’t very good at it. Speed keys could let you send code up to 80 words per minute. I never copied faster than 30 words per minute so when someone got on a speed key I needed a lot of repeats which would anger the sender.

When you wanted to show anger and that someone was a dummy, they would send dah, dah, dit, dit, dah, dah (two dashes, two dits, two dashes). That mean they thought you were an idiot. The idiot was the one sending with a speed key.

When I say long distance communication, I really mean it. I could sit in the radio station on New Orleans and copy traffic from the Indian Ocean. The code signals from the transmitters would bounce off the ionosphere and we could pick up the signals and copy the traffic.

As a side story, a lot of movies and tv shows often use Morse Code and I’ve found over the years the people responsible for the code take advantage that the producers don’t know code. For example, in the old TV comedy show Hee Haw, they had a news segment that was introduced each episode by Morse Code. What people didn’t know was what the code spelled. It was 3 dits, followed by 4 dits, followed by 2 dits, followed by one dah. It was all run together so you couldn’t separate the dits, but any radioman worth their salt knew it spelled “shit.” That’s one they got past the censors. It’s kinda fun to be able to decode the signals in movies and tv shows.

I’m still sore today and both ankles still hurt – the left more than the right – but I try to keep moving so I don’t lose flexibility. After sitting a while, I look walk like I’m crippled but after a while I can get to moving pretty well. I canceled yesterday’s PT but plan to go to the two next week. I also have a Herceptin treatment on the 23rd.

I need to start packing for the May trip to Mississippi. I always over pack and always manage to forget at least one item.

Just to let you know, after the four page letter I send to the manager and customer service representative at Hollywood Chrysler/Jeep, I haven’t had any response other than text messages asking me to rate their service on Google. I’m not going to do that but I was expecting some response to my letter from the dealership. Oh well.

…/-/.-/-.–/ -/..-/-././-..

18 April 2024

Who knew? I ended up hurting myself more than I realized. You know how you get a good night’s sleep and get out of bed and wonder where all those aches came from? That was me this morning. Not only did my skinned knee and left ankle bother me but my right ankle apparently took a turn during my fall, my left butt cheek hurts, my lower back hurts, and basically, anything below my waist is letting me know I did something stupid.

Guess who is going to chill out for the rest of the day? I’m a little torn between doing absolutely nothing and making sure I move enough to stay limber. Such are the paradoxes of old age.

Last night was The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock starring Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Angela Cartwright (shade of Lost in Space) Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette. It’s amazing what special effects there were able to devise for this movie. I read somewhere several years ago that Tippi Hedren did not know about the upper room with the birds. She knew there were going to be a few birds but Hitchcock took her by surprise. I also think I remember she hated the man.

As usual, after the movie Chris and talk. I enjoy our conversations as much as I do the movies. We pretty much talk about everything. Last night we couldn’t get over the 50’s attitude toward women. I mean, who gets in a motor boat and crosses Bodega Bay in high heels and a mink coat. That was how women were supposed to dress back then to attract a man. Even Rod Taylor’s role had him playing the typical 50’s male.

I didn’t walk today for obvious reasons. However, I do have a flower for you. The common name is a little unusual: Ramgoat Dashalong.

The ulmifolia, comes from the elm-shaped leaves (elm is the genus Ulmus). Ramgoat Dashalong, strangely, is a member of the Passifloraceae (passionflower family). Wikipedia suggests that a compound in the plant may have antibiotic activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bit of a problem these days. It’s native to Mexico and the West Indies but has been planted as an ornamental in South Florida.

When I first started teaching at Broward College, one of the labs for nonmajokrs was on plants. We needed flowers for students to dissect so they could see petals, sepals, stamens, pistils, etc. Usually, our only choice on campus was Hibiscus which is an atypical flower and not ideal to study the parts. Ramgoat Dashalong is a great example of a “typical” flower, but, alas, it did not grow on campus. They should plant this all over the campuses of the college just for flower dissection.

The only other excitement in my life today is waiting for a delivery from Amazon. It reminds me a little of The Music Man and the number “The Wells Fargo Wagon.”

Stay tuned!

17 April 2024

No good deed goes unpunished, no yard work goes unscathed. I’ve been wanting to clear out some dead limbs from my sour orange tree and I felt I had the energy to get it done. After about 30 minutes sawing with a handsaw, I realized the wood had turned into seasoned concrete and the hand saw was not going to work.

Fear not! I have an electric chain saw. I pulled it out of the garage and got a long extension cord so I could use the outdoor plug behind the gate. Since it is an outdoor plug, it has a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter). When that wall was replaced due to the flood, they replaced the GFCI and the plastic box surrounding it to protect it from rain. What they didn’t do was clean the plastic box of stucco from when the stuccoed the wall. I had to get a screwdriver to get the cover off the GFCI.

When I hooked the cord to the chain saw, nothing happened. I went back to the GFCI and it had been tripped so I pushed the reset button and got to sawing. To the saw’s credit, the chain only came off twice.

As I was getting ready to put the saw up, I stepped from the grass to the concrete garage pad and fell. I skinned my knee and sprained my ankle.

My intent was a quick removal of dead limbs, do yoga, swim, and clean house to get ready for movie night with Chris. No yoga and no swim and the clean house is looking iffy.

Before I tried to kill myself, I did manage 1.4 miles today. While on the walk past my favorite natural yard, I saw Indian Blanket in bloom.

Up until I went to New Mexico with Jo to see Patrick and Sarah, I’ve never seen this growing in the wild – only in peoples’ wild flower gardens.

On that trip, we stopped at Palo Duro State Park, Texas’ Grand Canyon, and I saw it in the wild for the first time. It’s an arresting flower with the yellow tipped rays and pink to red ray flowers.

The Biota of North America Program reports 13 genera in the U.S. with G. pulchella the most widely distributed. I suspect it’s because so many people plant it in their gardens.

It’s my choice of movie tonight and I suspect I’ll go with The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock. With everything going wrong today, that might be the ticket.

I’ll try not to do any more damage to myself until Chris gets here so she can take me to the hospital if I do try to kill myself again. Remember, most accidents happen within the home!

Stay tuned!

16 April 2024

Another really great day weather wise. I got a late start this morning because I slept past 7 which is unusual for me. I guess I need to turn in earlier if I want to get up earlier. My walk was the shortest of the four today but I extended it to 1.34 miles. My stamina is slowly improving.

While on the walk, I saw a species of Jasminum blooming called Morga. It’s Jasminum sambac and is considered the national flower of the Philippines and is an important component in perfumes.

There are around 200 species of Jasminum worldwide and all are members of the Olive family (Oleaceae).

There are 15 genera of Oleaceae in North America and 8 species of Jasminum. Over the years I’ve seen three genera in the wild – either doing my masters at Tishomingo State Park or on my travels.

I managed to do my yoga stretches, my home PT exercises, and swim today. The problem is I have PT with Shannon at 1:10 this afternoon and I’ll probably be wiped after what she puts me through. However, I’ll try anything to build my stamina.

I have a trip planned for May. My cousin Jimmie in Greensboro is driving to Mississippi with Stephen and I’m driving from Fort Lauderdale. We’ll meet in Mississippi on May 2nd. Jimmie and Stephen will be staying with her sister Jean and her husband Roger at Pelahatchie. I’ll be staying at Roosevelt State Park near Morton and use that as a home base to visit with them and my brother Archie and his wife Tanis in Brandon.

We also hope Jean and Jimmie’s sister Jo comes in from San Antonio. It’ll be a real family reunion of Agnew’s, McKay’s, Searcy’s and LeCoeur’s. The plan is to stay three nights and have some get togethers and maybe head out to some local restaurants. We are all getting older and we don’t see each other as often as we should.

Roosevelt has a lot of memories for me. It was my first night of camping with Boy Scouts. Actually, it was three of us camping on our own to earn a camping merit badge. We had those awful Army pup tents and it rained on us all night long. Those tents were treated canvas and if you touched the inside of the tent, it created a leak. Of course, one of our number didn’t believe that and touched the inside and had a drip over his head all night long.

Our Scout troop often camped at Roosevelt and we were “given” an area that we could clear and use for our permanent camp. Of course, when we cleared all the land in the area, the park took it to make camping spots for tourists.

We also made a lot of the trails around the lake at Roosevelt. I assume some are still there and I look forward to maybe walking one of those.

The Methodist Church used the group cabins as their Church Camp for many years. Jimmie and I would attend. The cabins were extremely primitive with a single light bulb, bunk beds, and no air conditioning. Of course, Church Camp was in the summer.

I’ve previously mentioned that the park had a lot of WWII canons and tanks kids could play on. I guess it’s like the old merry-go-rounds found on school yards. If you got hurt, it was your fault.

I also fished Roosevelt so many times I’ve lost count and caught the last fish I needed for the fishing merit badge there. I had to catch one on an artificial lure and I used a hula popper. I caught a bass. That’s still my favorite lure.

Roosevelt was also where I learned to swim. I took swimming lessons at the pool in Forest, Mississippi but it was Mrs. Oliver, the minsiter’s wife, that really taught me to swim at Roosevelt. It was cousin Jo that taught me to swim on my back out to the diving platform – a scary proposition for me. That gave me the courage to eventually do it using the American crawl and jump off the high dive.

If you swam in and around and under the diving platform (we would often play a game of aquatic chase) you would sometimes have fish come up and nibble at your bits. You’ve never been in pain until a fish has tried to bite your nipple.

That’s enough for today. I need to get ready for PT. Stay tuned!