I woke at about 4 and was wide awake. I tried to roll over and fall back to sleep, but my nose was running, and I was coughing a lot. I have either a cold, which is possible, or am reacting to something in the air, which is more likely. I rose and started on the blog in my home office. Looking out the window, it was still dark outside and frosty (we had a frost warning). We are in our desert climate early this year with cold, cloudless nights and hot, dry afternoons. For my first twenty years or more, May was a wet and messy month with floods and mudslides. I have never seen this kind of day in May until the last two years. So strange and yet so welcome; we feel a tiny bit guilty as the world faces too hot of weather while we get to play in our lawns and gardens and not be soaked.
I was timed blocked as I had my first dental cleaning appointment since the pandemic. Sorry for the cringing, but with Susie’s illness, COVID-19, and my cancer, it just did not seem like the time to have my teeth scraped. I had no issues while I delayed care for years. Just lucky, I think.
So, I wrote slowly but with a time limit. I also ran my connections to Quicken, which updates all my active accounts. I update this every day and review every f**king transaction. No hacker is getting my money! I also have good books for the IRS and Oregon State should they ever become interested in me. I have paper records, as that is what auditors and governments want. I punch holes in everything and put it in a binder. It’s old school, but it keeps me safe and provides clarity to me on my finances. I only have an AMEX for credit cards, but I did apply for an Alaska Air card, so ‘retired’ might be an issue. I pay AMEX off, as is the usual tradition with this card, every month.
Aside: I planned to retire around 55, and doing so meant that I had good control of my finances (and health). And while these plans faltered from events, I still had the license for Quicken, and once I was facing financial stress and fascinating (to me) tax complexity, I decided to add the task to my life of daily monitoring Susie and my finances and Quicken was nearly perfect for this. Refinancings, borrowing from my 401K, life insurance payments, and huge tax refunds from casualties made it all a good plan. I also hired a lawyer and a CPA. So far, only the IRS forms and my CPA has needed this information.
I completed the blog and various paperwork items. I ordered the solo book war games by Worthington: Bismarck, Waterloo, and Gettysburg. I suspect I will have time to use them on planes and will make them available for people waiting for me. I’m not sure Linda (my sister) or Dondrea wants to get out a pencil and some 6-sided dice to refight the British WW2 Navy, put on a grey cap, and see if they can take Cemetary Ridge or go French. These are a new type of game that has you write in the book and designed to let you make the important decisions instead of moving hundreds of pieces of paper on a board. They are highly recommended, especially the WW2 navy-based game Bismarck.
I can imagine being woken by Linda, Z, or Dondrea after the surgery. “How do you feel…but should I avoid the battle with Hood…should I take in more reserves…should I do this like Bobby Lee?” will be the questions. I would be so happy to not focus on my feelings after having a hole drilled in my head and not notice where all the hoses are connected to me. “Hell, sink the Hood!” I would shout after waking.
The dentist’s office is a few minutes away, and you could walk there, but I think it is better to drive back. The dentist is on vacation, so today, I only got the dental hygienist. We take x-rays, which she messes up a few times, and I get extra radiation this morning—oh my! My new dental hygienist used to do military in Europe, and she, I have things in my mouth, mostly talks about her trips. She is sorry she never did Morocco; during breaks, I tell her Morocco was worth visiting, splitting your visit between a few cities. While not heavy-handed, my teeth need extra work, but she is happy to report that it is not that bad, and my gums look good. And while she is not the dentist, the x-rays show no emergencies that need to be treated. I was not a fan of the ultrasonic thingee, and she did get my attention once. “That woke you up” was her neutral and military-like response. “I will turn that down,” was her answer. No issues, and while she recommends some painkillers, only Tylenol is allowed again. I took two before the process, which impressed her. I was fine.
At the house, I moved the laptop to the kitchen and started playing videos on YouTube, mostly 80s and 90s. This made me sing along and dance while cleaning the freezer and ice maker. The icemaker had been sitting outside and needed extra care. Moss, leaves, and other ick had accumulated. It took a workout to clean it in hot, soapy water. I had to get some paper towels into its guts to remove some of the ick.
I removed the drawer and the shelves in the door as they were messy. Freezers don’t usually get too messy. Melted ice cream was everywhere. I had to heat water to melt the goo at the bottom of the freezer. The shelves were thrown in hot, soapy water in the sink. The freezer door is also the shelf bottom and was covered with refrozen sticky stuff. I covered the floor with towels and soaked the surfaces in hot, soapy water. That and lots of scrubbing fix everything. I collected the peas, corn, and beans that were loose and dried everything with the towel before reassembling.
I then went through what was in the freezer and tossed anything old, ruined (mostly ice cream for Susie), and obviously beyond its end-of-life. I hauled another bag to the trash. I was startled a little later when the first load of ice fell in the ice maker!
I continued on with a mundane morning with laundry and dishes. Sorry if this sounds boring, but it is the first time I have had the freedom to get to these tasks. It feels so good to get to them.
Lunch, still a few hours away, requires planning. I plan to make the messy pasta dish from the NY Times again for lunch. I put out the spicey Italian-style sausage to defrost. Air Volvo, after I go back to get my phone, heads out to Trader Joe’s. I forget the recipe in Air Volvo, but I manage to remember what I need. I also decided to refill the freezer and get various excellent easy to prepared foods for the freezer, including their excellent naan. Oh, they have our favorites today. Soon, my small cart is filling. I resist the excellent meats and wines. I did not put all this weight by eating crap. Resist!
I put my bounty away after escaping Trader Joe’s for under $200 and start the two-hour process and ritual to summon a messy pasta dish to delicious and spice existence. “Hell, yes!” as I began to brown the sausage, I added lots of garlic (the recipe was more specific, as you can imagine), much oregano, and a pile of fennel seeds beaten with the back of a knife used like a hammer (I still don’t have a kitchen device for that–how is that possible). Again, the recipe had more specific expectations. Trader Joe’s sells excellent Italy-sourced whole tomatoes, peeled, in a can, and those go in the pan. As instructed, I break up those with my spoon. Next, crushed tomatoes, 1/2 a can, but I have fire-roasted (my favorite) again from Italy. Bay leaves, salt, and lots of stirring get us to a spicy, bright meat sauce. The recipe and I are not looking for slow-cooked subtleties but a punch.
I drift from the recipe as I get out a glass pan, add 3/4 of a pound of dry bow-tie pasta (to be American), and then pour the now-cooked content of the pan over the pasta. I mixed in 1/3 of good mozzarella cheese torn by me (not the plastic-like shredded for pizzas) and then added hot water. I then sprinkle the cheese on top and spoon on some ricotta cheese on top (I need to double this next time as the surface area is twice now). I have turned on oven number two in the new The Stove, and soon lunch, bright, cheesy, and spicy, is finishing. I chop up some fresh basil and sprinkle on top. I have two bowls and another late for a snack (skipping dinner).
I am running out of time…let me be brief.
I took a nap. I was woken by a text from Dondrea asking me if I was joining the Theology Pub tonight. I was dead asleep and would have likely woken the next day. I climbed out of the bed that seemed to want to hug me, stumbled to the office, and managed to reconnect with Dondrea on a Zoom meeting.
Today’s topic is Respect from a Christian perspective. We often mix freedom of speech and respect in the USA. Folks can and do say outrageous things, but does that mean they should be disrespected. Hmm. We concluded that Christians need to provide respect to others, but when things are plainly wrong like Jesus driving out the money changers, we need to act, and that may be perceived as not being respectful. Also, the USA is a country of laws and not privileges, which means there are limits to speech and other perceived rights to provide justice. Folks seem to forget that we are a country of laws first. We also discussed the ancient concept of a philosopher king ruling and how even Plato thought it would not work. I recalled that a comedy playwright who was mocked in one of Plato’s dialogues ended his greatest comedy with the gods giving a dead playwright a rope to hang the corrupt leaders in Athens and sending the poet back alive to deal with the mess. Maybe we need more angry poets who are respected and loved by the gods and the people. Respect is important.
After this, I soaked my foot in Epson salts, which helped. I went to bed and ran out of time to write. There at the end of the day, perfect!
Thanks for reading.
And our theme song for the blog: Think!.
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