From A Wide Spot In The Road

I arose this morning at six-thirty, my usual getting up time. I step on the scales and they are heavy. Thought I’d weigh light this morning. Had a plate of fruit with a slice of nutty toast and hot tea last night. It is that heavy, chewy bread, no doubt. Or maybe this is a normal good weight for me.


I bought a bicycle a while back. I wanted some wheels in case my drivers license is not renewed next month. I thought I could ride it. After all we don’t forget how to ride a bike, do we?

We replaced our microwave that sits on a shelf in front of our kitchen window with an over the stove microwave. The shelf one works well but we had an over the stove model before the kids got the shelf model for us.

I have a walker with a cracked wheel brace that could easily be repaired it seems. But I don’t do that anymore. Maybe I should throw it away, but where would I haul it off to? We have some other this and thats in the garage we no longer us but disposing of things is a problem.

My wife took her walker and went on her normal walk yesterday evening. She stopped and talked to a neighbor down the street. She told him about the walker with the damaged brace, the bicycle I was foolish enough to buy, and the microwave oven she replaced for her convenience. She gave them to him to use, to sell, to give away or whatever. He said he would pick them up shortly which of course will solve our problem.

Out my window the birds are feeding on the seed I left out for them. Mr and Mrs Redbird, the Cardinals always show up early. The doves are usually next, both the mourning doves and the ringneck doves. Then follow the sparrows and finches. The bluebirds are unpredictable. Sometime they are early to breakfast, sometime they show up later in the day. This morning two crows dined in my back yard. I also have squirrels who come here to feed, and Saturday a cottontail rabbit joined in. When we first moved here a few years ago raccoons roamed the neighborhood and kept eating the goldfish in my neighbor’s pool. I suppose the raccoons moved to a more lucrative area.

It’s still early. My plains are flexible today. I may read some. I have several library books checked out, a couple of kindle books I’m reading on. One book my wife checked out and read and wanted me to look at, a large book, hard to hold but does look interesting. Its title, You Staying Young, the owners manual for Extending Your Warranty. It is written by a couple of doctors. I’ll look it over and if nothing else it will give us something. I’ve had a good morning so far. I hope you have too.
I liked hearing about your critters. I visited Oklahoma about 20 odd years ago. It was the first time I ever saw a red squirrel...it was so cute. I never knew before then, that they came in red! All we have are gray.

I had a good morning too, thanks.
 
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He was right. There is something in spinach that give you an edge. So look out, I've
got it.
 

Australian singer RY X performs during the second day of the NOS Alive 2019 music festival
in Lisbon, Portugal, July 12, 2019. A couple of American bands also performed


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I do like to travel. I'm sorry but from where I was sitting this is the best shot I could get. It would have
helped to see the whole of him.
 
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Wife's youngest brother, a life long hunter and fisherman, who keeps our freezer stocked with frozen
Filets, has been in Southern California hunting the past eight days. He has a prior history of not breathing well in high elevations. Today the thin air apparently got to him. He had sharp pains in his backand was taken to the closest hospital with an apparent heart attack. He was flown to Denver in critical condition. A nephew is with until his wife from Eastland, Texas to Denver. All we can do is hope for the best.
 
Wife's youngest brother, a life long hunter and fisherman, who keeps our freezer stocked with frozen
Filets, has been in Southern California hunting the past eight days. He has a prior history of not breathing well in high elevations. Today the thin air apparently got to him. He had sharp pains in his backand was taken to the closest hospital with an apparent heart attack. He was flown to Denver in critical condition. A nephew is with until his wife from Eastland, Texas to Denver. All we can do is hope for the best.
Oh no! My prayers and good thoughts are sent to him. Please update us when you can, Drifter?
 
Brother in law is still in the hospital in Denver. They took him off the breathing tube after failing to do so earlier because he couldn't breath on his own.
He did not have a heart attack. Haven't heard an official diagnosis yet but it sounds like high altitude pulmonary endema. He had pneumonia in one lung, couldn't breathe, had to be incubated, kidney's failing, they are still only at fifty percent, still in ICU. His wife got there yesterday afternoon. He also has a bad case of diabetes he didn't know about. Two types of high altitude sickness can kill you. This sounds like one of them. The other is swelling in the brain. But that's not official. He is much better. Don't know when he'll be released. Sounds to me like he went up bove nine thousand feet too fast and stayed too long, but my opinion is just an educated guess. Thanks for your prayers and good wishes. Over and out.
 
Dear Diary, I'm not sure how to communicate with you. You see I've never kept a diary, too personal. Wouldn't know how. I have kept journals. In fact, one sits on my desk now. And, I have had a blog. Blogged for several years. I've been waiting for something to happen that is appropriate to record in a diary. Nothing ever happens to me worthy of really being noted in a diary. I always thought of diaries being something high school girls kept. I am not a conversationist. Is that a real word? I am am a country music fan or used to be before it got to progressive. I wanted to ply an instrument, a stringed instrument. Never learned how. I tried while growing up. Too complicated for me. Even had I learned I wouldn't be any good at it.

Somewhere during my retirement years I picked up a harmonica. I had cousins who played guitar, banjo, mandalin, piano. My brother was a gifted musician. My son put himself through college playing in a band, a professional musician. Now he's a teacher. My grandson is a talented musician, plays on his college marching band. In addition he plays guitar, piano, banjo, ukulele, sax, and clarinet He plays the classical and the Spanish guitars beautifully. Of the men in my family I am one of the few without musical talent. Maybe any talent.

So one day I pick up a harmonica. In my youth I didn't know any one who played one. They were crackerjack toys or something similar back then. I have a lung disease and blowing on the harmonica stretch my lungs and made me feel better. I could blow but I couldn't draw in air through the harmonica. It was too hard, hard because my lungs were too full of carbon dioxide.

There's more but this is enough for now, and it's late.
 
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Went to Post Office and the library this morning. Postman failed to pick up our out going mail, requesting RX refills. postmen and post women don't have to pick up your letter on mail box if they have no mail to deliver to you. So we made a trip to the post office. It seems to me this is happening way too often. I guess when something is important we should take and mail it ourselves.

On the way back we stopped at the library. We had books to return and I always like to keep reading material handy. Together we checked out six books.

Got up at three a.m. this morning. Read the news and played my harmonica quitely in the office for an hour. I've been having trouble getting on Netflix on Apple TV, getting on and off. My tv was a store demo and when it was originally set up in my home, the retail store demos were not taken off and too often when we'd try to get on Netflix the retail store demo would appear and it was like pulling teeth to get it off and it would not always work the same way. So frustrating we quit watching netflix or even tryinhg to get on App;le TV. I worked on it for two hours thos morning. Finally got rid of the store demo thing everything working smooth going and coming on and off Apple TV. I'm sure someone who knew what they were doing could have accomplished this chore in a very few minutes. I have no technical know how. I do every thing by the seat of my pants. Has anyone seen the New Lion King movie? My roommate is wanting to go.
 
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Today is Saturday and I have worked hard all week. I'm going to cook myself a steak.
Yesterday I bought two steaks for this weekend, a tenderloin and a ribeye, premium
beef. I got the tenderloin for my roommate and the ribeye for myself. I forgot tomatoes
but here shortly I'm going to Sprouts and get some for a salad. We'll either have a
baked spud or some soft cooked fries with it, maybe a green bean and a piece of
good bread. My tastebuds are rising up in agreement. It'll be a simple lunch with only
water or maybe a glass of iced tea to finish it off. If it was evening I might have a glass
of wine.
 
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We had ethe steaks. Inedible. They were well, well done. Cooked all the posture out of them
Last time I'm buying stealks to cook at home. The salad was good.
 
We had ethe steaks. Inedible. They were well, well done. Cooked all the posture out of them
Last time I'm buying stealks to cook at home. The salad was good.
Don't give up. Just don't cook them so long. Did you broil, pan fry or grill?
When it gives very easily under your finger, it's rare, gives a little, more like medium or med rare. Hard is well done/overdone. Let it rest about 5 minutes before you cut it.

Darn, Drifter -I was looking forward to that steak! :cry:
 
Well, now, I can't believe all I'm seeing or rather all that is happening this weekend.
Now that the steaks were ruined and thrown away, that is more than enough for
one weekend, but here we are on Sunday morning and its happening again.

We get up on Sunday to watch Sunday Morning on the TV. I make coffee before
hand. Good coffee. I read a bit in the western I am trying to finish. Later I get up to
make more coffee for breakfast. Wife has cooked breakfast, she's wanting a
warmup on coffee. I have it ready to make except pouring in the water, I'm thinking.
I pour in the water, turn the coffee pot on and wait a few minutes. Hot water is
pouring through into the coffee pot. I did not put in the coffee in the filter. Pulled out
the coffee holder, hot water ran all over everything. Placed the carafe back, pulled
out my coffee, went to put in the number of tablespoons, accidentually knocked
the coffee can all over the counter and floor. I'm not believing this. Need to go back
to bed and get up again. Mama mia!!!
 
The family is back home. They all spent a month in Italy. Granddaughter spent a month in Spain
Training and dancing. She said it was the most fun she'd ever had. Grandson spent a month in England at Oxford, studying and writing. He loved it. All said it was a wonderful summer? They are all preparing for another school year. Grandson a junior in college. Granddaughter a sophomore in
High school. Son and daughter in law, teaching. Me, glad they are home safe.

I will also continue studying, putting words together, playing the harmonica, and reading. Simple things that add small pleasures. Life is good.
 

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