2020 Life Logs, Day 164: Chore Day and Back Update
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 70, Low 54 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a Saturday with a lot of running around. Today was a hazardous waste recycling day at Falmouth High School. I volunteered to pick up items from Heather and Jed’s and do that chore first thing this morning. And while I was in town, I filled my empty fuel tank in my car and went to the liquor store to get a couple of cases of fuel for me. It was early and there was almost , curbside. I know from the first time I did this that it is not fast. Then I headed home to make my morning smoothie, to get a batch of chicken mineral broth burbling, give Shadow a bath, and then go for a walk with Shadow. Following the advice of the breeder where I got Shadow, I have been feeding him raw chicken wings late morning, and so far that is working. Sonja, the breeder, told me that is what she feeds her picky eaters, Shadow’s mother being one of those. But I give him the wings outside as I don’t want raw chicken all over my floor. Not sure what I’ll do in the winter, but I’ll worry about that in a few months. Evidently raw chicken wing bones are safe for dogs. But never cooked bones. Who knew? Not me. I gave Shadow that much needed bath and then grabbed my smoothie and my book and went outside to sit and read and have late breakfast with him while he dried out in the sunshine. By the time he ate and we went for a walk, he was dry. That process takes all day in cold weather inside. So much easier now.

I spent my afternoon running around again. This was an unplanned adventure, but in reading my email this morning, I read about a strawberry tower you can grow on your deck. That reminded me that I have a three-tiered hanging basket in the basement that looks just like the tower. Justin and Jo gave it to me years ago when Mark and I were living on the boat. I haven’t used for a couple of years, but I decided to see if there were still strawberries to be bought and fill the hanging basket tower for Heather’s deck. I went to my favorite nursery first, all outside, and they had only one variety of strawberry left. They were beautiful, with red blossoms, but I needed 9 of them and they were going to cost more than I was willing to spend. So, I then drove all the way back home and beyond to the wholesale nursery that exists only in May and June. They have already put everything on sale at 25 per cent off, and I decided to get 6 strawberry plants there and then drive back to the other nursery to get three of the red-blossomed ones. A lot of driving, but when I planted them in the hanging baskets, I was very pleased with the look. I then planted a few things in my garden before delivering the strawberry hanging tower to the Goldstones. Jonah and Ollie love strawberries, so they were both very excited. Jonah took the lead in getting the ‘tower’ from the car to the deck and made sure it was hanging securely. When I left, he and Ollie were ‘petting’ the little strawberries already formed on a couple of the plants. These strawberries will be much loved.

Now, on the subject of my back. I reported earlier that I had an MRI on Tuesday, met with my primary care physician on Wednesday, and he arranged an appointment with a neurosurgeon for me this Monday to review the MRI impressions. In the meantime, the primary care doctor had me cancel any physical therapy sessions until I meet with the neurosurgeon. That was on Wednesday. And Thursday morning I woke up and things were much better than they have been for weeks. I was supposed to start taking Prednisone starting on Thursday to reduce the inflammation, but I put it off a day just see if the lack of pain on Thursday morning was just a fluke. But Friday morning was even better than Thursday. Maybe it is a coincidence and things are just now starting to heal, but I am convinced that the exercises were aggravating the situation. I will get to a point when I can do them again, but for now, I think I just need to give things a rest. That’s what my chiropractor has been advising all along. We’ll see what the neurosurgeon says on Monday. I still have some tingling and numbness in the legs when I walk, but the pain in my hips has disappeared for now making life much more pleasant.