Today was the morning that Susie had Mohs surgery for cancerous and precancerous skin issues on her head. We left for Portland about nine-ish, I got up about 7ish, and arrived a bit early. We cruised around Portland for a few minutes and then parked and checked into the clinic. Everything is different from the last time I was there. There is no wait in the waiting area and no coffee. The patients are put in their separate rooms for the procedure and stay there until done. In the past, the patients were sent out to the waiting room and wait to see if the procedure was enough or if they need more surgery. Susie was there for two hours and had only one surgery for each spot.
Susie headed in for Mohs Surgery.
I waited in the Air Volvo in the parking lot. I was reading, try not to fall asleep, a book on how gunnery for battleships was developed before World War I and how well it worked. I made a few calls and tried to take a nap.
I then went to the comic store across the street. Funny, it is Portland, and all the cars stopped for me to let me cross the road. I was almost embarrassed to stop traffic, but it is Portland and being overly polite while driving is a thing here.
ACME, the store’s name and the name of the supplier of various items for Bugs Bunny and other cartoon folks, is a hole-in-the-wall shop, with just one hallway of items. Only older comics, vintage, are offered with other various related items, most in their original wrappers, of course. Vintage would also describe the store and the layout. It smelled of old paper and maybe glue.
The owner, wearing a mask, was happy to have a new customer. Everything was 50% off. Someone very skilled in plastic models had decorated the store with finely made U-boats, warplanes, Star Trek, and armor suits. The owner explained that a comic artist also made models, and these are his models. I believe he had a model of the ship from The Perfect Storm that got my attention–I want one of those to build. Instead of focusing on the models, I asked him to select a few comic books that represent the art for a friend for Christmas. He picked out some Avengers from 1964 and 2011 and Gotham City Sirens from 2009 as good representations. Unlike most stores I have been in (including Powell’s), he only takes cash. I was surprised and paid him; I let him keep the change, 50% off is nice, but it was a bit much in a pandemic. It was a pleasant distraction.
The doctor’s office called soon after that Susie was done. I pushed her on her walker as she was exhausted and in a bit of pain. She was able to get into Air Volvo. We stopped by McDonald’s, and Susie had her fav, Chicken McNugget Happy Meal, and I had a two-cheese burger meal. My dad used to order that when I visited in Michigan, “Hey, want to get a cheeseburger,” he would say. I think I had three or more trips in a week when I visited. I always think of him when I order one.
Susie went to bed to rest. I had to stop at Powell’s and pick-up the Christmas gifts. So I left for a short time. I picked up my order. There I also found an older copy of Aristophanes in English and Greek, including my fav play, “The Frogs.” I have always wanted one with the Greek, just $11, and now I can see the Greek words being translated. My Greek is mostly basic New Testament Greek for teaching Sunday School, but I always wanted to see how Aristophanes put together his lines.
Susie had an ice-pack on when I returned. This helped with the stinging pain.
I let her rest and watched The Expanse new season. This is one of the best series that is both SciFi and horror. I recommend it. It was picked up by Amazon Prime; they have done the last two seasons, and the show is just excellent.
Dinner was ribeye steaks grilled on the gas grill with just salt and pepper sprinkled with coffee. I found an old package of stuffing and a can of cranberry jelly and so went with last year’s Thanksgiving food. I usually buy two over everything, and the stuffing was just expired (it is stale bread anyway). So steak, stuffing, and cranberry jelly. It worked! Susie managed 1/2 a steak. She got going got dinner and watched some of The Expanse with me.
Oregon suffered its highest death count today from the infection: 53. The USA had 2,976 deaths today from Covid-19. The vaccine was delivered today to Oregon.
I picked, after some searching, The Storm is Passing Over, for today’s story. This is from Detroit in 2009, but it could be today.
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