It’s Monday, June 1st as Cindy and I start our third month in our volunteer position in White, GA.. Even more importantly, it was Ann’s birthday. Happy Birthday Princess! I wish we could have been with her to celebrate it but, like the last several years, that wasn’t in the cards. Maybe one day.
While on her walk that morning, Cindy saw the deer you see above. As you know, that made her day.
That night we watched John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight episode on Presidential pardons. It’s one of those things that all presidents have, in my opinion, misused (though probably none so much as our current holder of that office) and I have long thought that this is one of those things that should be removed from presidential powers.
Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News
On Tuesday, June 2nd, I got the first of three weekly knee injections to treat the arthritis in my knees. It was not as bad as I thought it might be, but it wasn’t a lot of fun either.
First, the technician feels your knee with their hands to see where they’re going to make the injection and use a black marker to make a dot for the injection point.
Next, they spray a freezing solution on that point to numb the skin. Thank you!
Then, out comes the syringe. Very thin needle, about 2 inches in length, and the syringe is filled with what is called hyaluronic acid. “Acid” sounds scary, but it’s really a gel that helps increase lubrication and cushioning in the joint. Just not immediately. The largest percentage of people get relief 4-6 weeks after the third and final shot. Cindy says I’m exceptional, so I’m hoping I’m an exception.
Anyway, the injection doesn’t hurt but you do get a feeling of your knee being “full” and it takes a while for the gel to spread out and work its way through the joint. Walking right away helps to do that, but it IS a strange feeling.
Though they want you to walk a little right away the also want you to stay off the knee(s) that first day, so Cindy, the sweetheart that she is, took all my lot patrols for the day and let me sit in my recliner with my legs up.
The NEXT day, June 3rd, was my first appointment with a nephrologist we found in the area. Both my PCP and my Endocrinologist have been urging me to see one. I stopped going to the one I had in Orlando a few years back because I did not care for him or his staff and my kidney function had been improving. But for the past year there have been indications in my lab results that they were getting worse again. Traveling around as we had been precluded getting set up with a new nephrologist, but since we’re stationery for a while we found one near us and set up an appointment.
This one’s a little crazy, lol, but much preferred to the arrogant one I used to see. He set up a shitload of lab tests for me to have done AND asked me if I would take a test that checks to see if I am genetically predisposed to Chronic Kidney Disease. He doesn’t think so (something like 10% of the population is, the rest are due to issues like mine), but he likes to rule it out. So I will.
He also wants me to return for an ultrasound of my kidneys. It seems like overkill but I guess it can’t hurt.
So, the next day I went back to his office for an ultrasound.
Fowl News
That same day, a chicken suddenly showed up at our site. Apparently, several people that live within a mile or so of us have chickens and this one escaped from one of them. I’m hoping someone comes looking for it soon. It likes to eat any of the bird seed that falls from the feeders Cindy has set up and is scaring off the birds we like to see.
And in continuing fowl news; a pair of Carolina Wrens has built a nest in the hanging Fuscia plant that Cindy bought a couple of weeks ago. She noticed the beginnings of it a few days ago and now it is completely built and it’s pretty cool to see. I’ll try to include a photo of it in this post.
Over on my writing blog I wrote a post about the Science Fiction Book Club of 40 years ago. Maybe you were a member too.
Saturday was a VERY busy day at the ramp and for several hours Cindy was at one end and I was at the other as we communicated with our walkie-talkies and managed traffic as it was coming in and out. Thankfully Sunday was rainy and traffic was not nearly as bad.
That night, we saw our first fireflies of the season. Funny how something so small can elicit such excitement and pleasure.
Monday we took it easy. I started watching Jack Ryan: Ghost War that night, but heavy rains kept our Starlink signal low and I gave up partway through.
The chicken was still hanging around and I’m afraid Cindy is going to make it a pet.
Tuesday, June 9th, was my second knee injection. Same process. Not really any relief yet.
When I got back from the injection I watched the rest of Jack Ryan: Ghost War. Enjoyed it quite a bit, like I usually do with all the Jack Ryan stories.
Star Trek
I’m currently reading a dead tree book that Cindy gave me called The Fifty Year Mission: The First 25 Years. It is, of course about the history of Star Trek in many of its forms. I’ve seen just about every iteration of Star Trek there is over the years; the original TV series, the movies, the books, the comic books, and the various TV series that came after the original series.
But I never watched the animated TV series from 1973-1975. Nor have I watched any of the more recent animated series.
But I got to the part of the book about Star Trek: The Animated Series and after reading about its history I thought, “It’s about time I at least TRY the animated series and see what I think of it.” So that night I watched the first episode.
The upside to animation is that it allows a much broader range of effects. No makeup worries, no concerns about lighting, sets can be anything, anywhere and aliens can be anything you can dream up with no limits to how strange they might look and whether they look believeable in a live action setting.
And, one of the good things about this animated series is that they used the original actors to voice the original crew members. It adds to the animation and the fact that you’re watching the stories about the original series and cast.
The downside is that the animation is very basic and stilted. In the first episode alone I watched several scenes be used over and over again, as they were meant to be. But it can be funny. Early on, they had a crew member with a mustache running the transporters. They had a scene where they zoomed in on the hand operating the controls, but you could see the side of the crew member’s face and his mustache sticking out on the side. Later they had Scotty operating the transporters and used the same zoom in they had used previously of hands moving the controls and the side of the face with the mustache showing.
Except Scotty doesn’t have a mustache. Not during The Original Series. Ooops!
I’ll watch a couple of more episodes and decide whether to continue.
Wrapping Up
On Wednesday we found three eggs in the Carolina Wrens’ nest that was built in the hanging planter.
Thursday was our oldest grandson’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mikey!
Friday, June 12th was Superman Day and I, of course, wrote a blog post about it.
Saturday I woke up with what felt like about a 25% reduction of pain in my knees. So hopefully the injections are starting to work. Unfortunately it was a super, super busy day at the ramp that saw me on my feet and walking for about 9 hours. So, by the time the day was over I was in a lot of pain in my knees…again, lol!
I reluctantly took a pain pill before bed, but still woke up several times Saturday night and Sunday morning in pain. Cindy was a great help during the day so I did not have to be on my feel for so long.
Monday, June 15th, was the birthday of one of my favorite comic book artists, the late Neal Adams.
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