Today 14May2023

The morning started with me rolling over from 5 until 7:30AM, falling back into unremembered vivid dreams. The kind you don’t know you are dreaming but wonder why things are missing or illogical but keep going anyway. I woke up a few times and thought, “Oh my, I am still in bed, and it is still Sunday morning.” I thought I was at work a few times or needed to head to work. But, finally, the alarm rang, and I decided to stop the somniac experiment.

Sunday mornings mean making something for breakfast besides the usual. So I got out an NYC sesame seed bagel and some good Black Forest-styled ham, shaved. And piled it on. Before the ham, I toasted the sliced bagel and slightly covered it with cream cheese. This adds flavor and stops the ham’s juices from making the bagel soggy. Next, I added a slice of Swiss cheese. Before this, I heated the broiler in the oven and moved the rack to the second position. I broiled the bagels for six minutes on aluminum foil (sprayed with non-stick cooking spray) until the cheese was melted and ran off with a few browned spots. Excellent.

So with liberal coffee and a broiled bagel with cheese and ham, I read my emails and wrote a long blog for Saturday. That took most of the morning. I also put my newest stamps in my album, including an expensive acquisition of a USA Graf Zeppelin stamp, finishing my collection of early airmail stamps. While my latest stamp is on a slightly beat-up flown cover, the $2.60 stamp is expensive, and I was lucky to find one under $600 on eBay. I also had some Nebraska overprints and a $1 Washington from the 1930s I found for a reasonable price. I wanted to get these in my albums before I bid on any more. I also put some revenue stamps in my albums; I have started to collect beer stamps, and I have a new album for them. Lastly, I replaced a wrongly placed special delivery and revenue document stamp; I was embarrassed I had put the wrong stamps in my album (of course, only I know) and bought replacements for a reasonable price.

I made chicken soup, from a can, for lunch. I ate it while watching YouTube videos on shipwrecks and naval history. It was already getting hot, but I did not enable the AC at the house.

After that, I finally cleaned up and got dressed. I watered the new tree (2″ tall) and the stressed-looking roses. I noticed my neighbor was pushing, mowing her lawn, and looking none too happy. I remembered later that it was Mother’s Day and realized I had not seen her husband. Likely a sad story.

I arrived late, about 1PM, at Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie was asleep in her room when I arrived but was thrilled to have me there. She was cold (I turned off the fan). It was 92F (33.3C) outside and sunny–Susie was comfortable and sleepy. I got her sitting up, and we watched the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I forgot what a chaotic mess the movie was. I was laughing, and the explosions and actions sometimes woke Susie up. She was happily resting now that she had someone to sit with her.

I have an Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) doctor appointment, and I did the paperwork for that visit at 8AM Monday. I had to manually copy my prescriptions from one system to their system. They don’t use MyChart, ugh.

Once the movie was over, I started to get ready to leave, but Susie decided we should head outside into the park (cooled down to 89F), so Louis, the evening nurse aide on Sundays, got Susie ready. Pushing her in the wheelchair, we made it to the park. The crushed stone in the parking lot is hard going in the wheelchair now that it has dried out. I pushed her through Metzger Park, it was busy, and all the benches were used, so I turned around instead of making a long loop on the sweltering streets. The general-use building in the park (which you can rent) was busy with a party. I took Susie off the trail, as the grass was dry, and we toured some of the other areas and then finished in the basketball courts, which were not in use.

I returned to hummingbird house, stalling once in the crushed stone, but I managed to get going again without dumping Susie. Physics still works on wheelchairs, and if you suddenly stop, the person in the wheelchair, like any body in motion, will continue to go forward. I go slow so Susie does not develop too much independent momentum!

I stopped by Panda Express and got some below-average, overly-sweet food that suggests Asia (or maybe an Asian food nightmare). I had to get gas at $4.39. Gas now increasing slowly in price. I will resist any commentary. Remember, we have no sales tax when comparing prices, and all gas is full service.

I was home, ate my dinner, which was not terrible, and then headed to Wildwood Taps to write this blog. I wanted a beer and to write in a place filled with people.

Thanks for reading.