Son has a week off, so he's been working on his SUV to fix an overheating issue. He pretty much took apart his entire engine apart to replace some parts, something I could never do without causing an expensive disaster. He needed to go grocery shopping, and said until he gets the engine re-assembled, he could get what he needed at the nearby Dollar General. I took him there, barely ANY food in the freezers/fridges. Notes taped to them saying upgrades were coming soon. Kind of explained why only two vehicles on the parking lot. So, I took him where I go when I just need a "few" items, like he needed, the Harvest Foods grocery up the road. He got what he needed.
This photo of my old cat "Eastwood" from 2010 popped up in today's OneDrive Memories email. He was named by my late Uncle Bill, who got him as a kitten, but quickly discovered he'd be in no shape to longtime care for a pet. While still a kitten in 2003, he gave the cat to mom, who gave him to me. Eastwood was good at opening kitchen cabinets. That day, caught him on top of the fridge, next to an open cabinet.
Still miss that goofball, but due to a couple reasons, I won't be adopting any new pets. 1) Financial. Doing good to feed MYSELF currently. Pet food/litter/etc is pricey these days. / 2) If I were to suddenly keel over, due to various health issues, the pet would be alone for no telling HOW long, considering no more often that I get visitors or hear from anyone since mom passed. Lucky these days if I even hear from my son once a month, even though he lives next door. Could be literally months before anyone would notice.
Today is the birthday of my first girlfriend, who I dated a while all the way back in elementary school at Riser back in the 1970's. Still think about her occasionally , and consider her as "the one that got away". Last I heard from her was in late 1997, when she randomly showed up at my door one evening a few months after my divorce from the ex. One thing lead to another, and we ended up doing something we never did back in our youth. She showed up one more time after that, then went silent.
Sometimes try looking her up online, but can't find any information. Guessing she might not have a public online presence. Amazed I can remember her birthday after all these decades, especially with my old age brain. Also remember when we were kids, I'd go visit her often on weekends. Her family lived on Paula Drive in the 1970's.
Had a rather unnerving experience last night. After I'd gone to bed, a couple hours later I needed to make a trip to the bathroom. Before I knew it, about half-way there, I open my eyes, find myself lying on the floor. On the way to the floor, I apparently hit a small table nearby, because the books stacked on it were scattered a bit.
Guessing since I didn't remember falling, I must have temporarily blacked out. Not sure if it might have been blood pressure related or what. Been a few years since I've fallen, and that time I just got a bit dizzy and lost my balance.
Anyway, something else I'll have to bring up at my next doctor check-up in a few weeks. I now have a bruise toward the bottom of the left side of my chest.
Think I got woke up too early this morning. Heard a lawn mower going near the bedroom window, at first assumed it was the neighbor who lives to the right of the house mowing near his property line, which is close to my bedroom. This was before 8:00am.
After getting out of bed to investigate, I discovered it was the other neighbor, who has been mowing my yard actually doing the mowing. This surprised me, since he said last time he'd be unavailable the rest of the year because he was going off to do pipeline work. I was already in the process of looking for someone else to do the job.
Haven't actually talked to him yet, after he finished mowing, he didn't come to the door to collect his money. He usually collects it every "second time" he mows, so now I'm wondering if he WILL be available to mow my yard when he mows his this summer.
I think I just might be on to something. I was prescribed a new medicine on my doctor check-up visit recently, after I told him I was having to get up six or seven times a night to urinate. He prescribed a medicine called "tamsulosin". Even though I've never taken it before, I didn't bother reading the sheet from the pharmacy that came with it. After looking it up online, side effects like heavy coughing, excessive weakness/tiredness, and dizziness standing up are listed. I've had the last two since the esophagus surgery in 2018, but those seem to have worsened in just the past few days. Been coughing so much, my chest feels bruised on the inside. When I was changing my bed linens yesterday, I had to stop three times in the process to sit down a few minutes, because I got so exhausted, felt like I was going to drop.
I might need to put a pause on taking that medicine until I see the doctor again in a couple of months, and just "put up" with the getting up regularly at night.
Several months ago I stopped taking a blood pressure med I was prescribed, "nifedipine", after I noticed it was making my feet swell. He prescribed a different med for blood pressure that hasn't seemed to have any ill effects so far.
Just finished the digitization of another section of the old 45rpm records in my collection, a mixture of singles my parents and/or I bought ages ago, some dating to the 1950's. This was the "Country Music" category (yes, I have them categorized/alphabetized). Only been working on it sporadically since completing the old pretend radio shows my friends and I made on audio cassette back in the day. First section, long since completed, was the "Assorted" section, which included the few comedy/novelty singles. Still have "Jazz", "Rock/Pop", and "R&B/Soul" categories to digitize.
Why I had the single of Gene West's "In The Ghetto" in the "Country" section is beyond me however, but it got digitized this evening, with the help of an old trick. It got stuck in initial playback, so I added a couple nickels to the top of the tonearm. That 45 also had a slight warp. Not sure WHO bought that 45. Dad never preferred any music as far I can remember, didn't even have a radio in his old pickup truck. Mom was strictly country. I was very young when that song came out, didn't have money to buy records. The first time I actually remember hearing the song was Elvis Presley's later version.
Since I was in a "nostalgic" mood again late this evening, relistened to my digitization of the old pretend radio special from 1982 "TRS On Location at Skatetown", recorded October 30, 1982 on location, "broadcast" on the pretend Tape and Record Show yearly New Year's overnight marathon on December 31, 1982.
The recording still sounds terrible from other recordings my friends and I made at the time, since it was recorded at Randy Haney 's job, one reason I went with him that Halloween Eve (main reason was just to get sound effects to dub into other "studio" recordings). Brought a battery powered Craig branded monophonic portable cassette recorder with a Radio Shack mic with a built in switch, which could pause the recorder, thus the "choppiness" of the recording.
Ended up never using anything as "sound effects", since several spots came out clear enough to hear. Instead, edited the nearly three hours of recordings down to the "broadcast" 90 minute special. I consider that the first "remote" recording TRSE ever made, even though recordings at Randy's house pre-dated it. The recordings at Randy's house were controlled, Skatetown was totally UN-controlled!
Also heard on the Skatetown recording are Michelle Haney, Donald Owens , Lori Boyd, Judy Melton, a couple of other guys our age at the time I never got their names, and an older guy, when he laughed, sounded like Andy Devine.
During my check-up at the doctor yesterday morning, after a lab test, he thinks my increasing tiredness might be due to low vitamin D3 in my system, so he prescribed some pills. The past few months, I sometimes even get winded after just showering. Also feel like sleeping a lot. He also did a quick prostate examination during the visit, which he said seemed okay.
Wasn't online much yesterday. Didn't sleep well night before last. That, and having to get up early for the appointment, then going grocery shopping after the appointment, a stop at the bank to withdraw a little pocket cash, took a lot more energy out of me than usual. Laid down around 3:30pm for a nap, decided to just stay in bed, didn't "officially" get up again until around 8am this morning.
Power was just restored after being out for nearly five hours this evening. To keep myself entertained, I sat at the window watching around six Entergy trucks across the road working on the issue.
The elderly woman directly across the road from my house was getting a couple trees cut down. Looks like she "cheaped out", by not hiring a service, but some lone guy instead to do the job. One of the trees fell onto the main power lines that go down the road, even causing one pole to lean heavily.
I was in the middle of watching an old "Law and Order" episode on Peacock around 7:20pm, when suddenly I heard a loud crash outside, and the lights went out.
Frankly, I'm amazed my internet is currently working, since Comcast's wire on the main poles is still "dangling". Doubt they will fix that until daylight at the earliest.
calm
nostalgic
blah
accomplished