Change gonna come...

Wow. Crazy day.

Progress with the new book, minor setback with a pair of rejections. MRI mid-morning, then home for a pointless Zoom meeting with insane ex-clients. Got a small nap with the kitties, and had a nice chat with our wonderful neighbor, R, too.

Day went well until I stopped by Safeway to pick up a few groceries. Got into it with a MAGA jerk while standing in line. Man. We were this close. Where do these people come from?

Enough.

Weather got real warm and maybe that’s part of it. Just looking forward to mending what’s broken now.

The world will fix itself. It always has.

Sunday...

Up a little later than usual (6:30) after a good night’s sleep. Put in some good work on the novel before abandoning it to yard work. Hot day, today. Still, got the trees pruned, and most of the edges trimmed (before the weed whacker died).

Bagged everything for short nap, then worked out while. Went back to the cottage afterward and wrote a couple of N reviews.

MRI tomorrow. 10:30. Interested in seeing how well I’ll be able to lie still, on my back. Also curious to see the extent of the damage, though I don’t suppose that’ll be available for a few days.

Taking it easy tonight.

In no hurry to do anything.

Make me another one, just like the other one...

Decent night’s sleep for a change! Even the arm didn’t wake me.

Put in a few hours worth of work at the keyboard, then got outside to mow my lawns, prune the locusts in back and do a little reading.

Got in a workout late afternoon, caught up with some correspondence, and monkeyed around with my tools for a while. All in all, not a bad day.

Clouds rolled in late afternoon, threatening rain, but so far no dice. Maybe this evening.

Leaving it at that...

Progress on the novel.

Storage unit emptied, cleaned, and relegated to history.

Picked up K’s old patio furniture and made a short but gratifying trip to the thrift store.

Home for some FaceTime with the boys, and a long nap to quiet the aching arm.

Called mom, but she was napping.

Hoping to get back on track tomorrow.

Another day in CovidLand...

Good work this morning at the keyboard. Good session of PT. Rest of the day chugged along as usual.

Got a nap in late afternoon, then went off to storage to get the rest of the heavy stuff out of the unit with the help of my buddy, Solomon. Coke machine now safely stored in the garage. Everything else off to the ReStore or the dump. Glad to have all of that over with.

Ortho’s office called to say they’ve put in the order for the MRI. Hope that can happen soon. Meanwhile, I’ll do what I can do.

Got letters from Jackie and Matty today. Really sweet. Got contributor copies from DASH, too.

Hoping for a quiet evening, and a good start on tomorrow. Feel like maybe something good might happen.

Many goings on...

Arm drove me out of bed earlier than usual today, but no complaints. Got some good work done at the keyboard.

Worked until 11:00 then drove out to the ortho specialist to have my arm examined. Three hours later—including a near run-in with a MAGA hatted imbecile who refused to put on a face mask—had a new battery of x-rays taken and was tentatively diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff. MRI’s been ordered, but not taken yet. Maybe Friday or early Monday.

Best news of the day, Mom was released from the hospital this evening. Throat sore from intubation, but otherwise ready to get on with things. Didn’t want to talk tonight, so we’ll catch up with her tomorrow.

Got a nice card from young Jack today. Friendship bracelets he made. Miss, miss, miss that boy.

Tomorrow, Solomon and I clean out the last of the heavy stuff from the storage unit. Be happy to shut the place down. Tonight, gonna hang back and do as little as possible.

Thankful...

Glad to have this one behind. Up early, worrying about mom, then off to a tough session of PT. Good news is, everything turned out as hoped. Mom came through strong, and if all goes according to plan gets released tomorrow.

Put in some good time at the keyboard before therapy. Got in a halfway decent workout, too, and had a nice visit on the phone with young Matty before the afternoon drifted away.

Made a pot of leek and potato soup. Weather seemed to call for it. Been cold and damp all day.

Can’t say how much I’m looking forward to seeing the doc tomorrow. Wanna find out what kind of damage I’m carrying and see what the hell I can do to mitigate it. Meantime, it is what it is.

Lots of stuff up in the air. Got our hands out waiting for them to come down, but the going’s slow. Haven’t read anything interesting in the past couple of days. Maybe that’s got something to do with it.

Onward.

Pardon the interruption...

Software glitch last night. Couldn’t get in. Looks like I’m back in business.

Mom went in to surgery this morning for a transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Fingers crossed.

PT for me this morning. Orthopedic office tomorrow.

Gonna be a long week.

Breezing along...

Nice evening at K’s. Great dinner, great company. Saw a band of coyotes, dancing and yammering, down in the trees before we went home. Coolest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Woke early, went straight to work. A good morning. Spoke to Jack and Matty, too.

Big wins blew through the neighborhood yesterday. 60 mph. Took out two big trees in at the church, a beautiful blue spruce and a nice old silver maple.

Finished the two N critiques in my queue, tried to take a nap, got stymied by a long line of honking cars passing under the window.

Still windy. Looking forward to an uneventful evening. More, looking forward to seeing the orthopedic folks on Wednesday.

Bringing it all back home...

Forging ahead with the new novel. Better, making progress—or whatever it is that passes for progress at this point.

Worked out early to avoid the heat. Good plan, and one to take into the future given the forecasts. Made a few phone calls after, including one to my uncle. Prospects of commercial work back on the radar. Hope some of it—any of it—comes through.

Made a brief trip to the storage unit to see what needs to be cleared. Not much. Wish my arm felt better, but determined to get everything out before things get complicated. Gym’s opening Monday, so maybe I can talk to my buddy Solomon and see if he’s willing to lend me a hand, lifting. There’s a desk in there that weighs more than my old rolltop, but doesn’t have a smidgen of the charm. Like to take a chainsaw and bucket of kerosene to it, but under the circumstances it’s probably ill-advised.

Long nap this afternoon. Been trying to fight off the fatigue, but that too is tiring. Gonna be damned disappointed if I find out it’s old age that’s doing this to me, not a torn rotator.

Dinner at K’s tomorrow night. Be good to get out of here for a while.

Up early. Early to the cottage, writing. PT mid-morning.

Something happened between then and now, some of which could be described as a therapeutic nap. But I don’t want to go and get technical .

Calling it a day.

Coherence tomorrow!

Taking a deep breath...

Gains and losses made today.

An early rise, respectable time at the keyboard. Midday interruptions with doctors offices. Leaned (surprise) the x-rays of the arm revealed nothing. No breaks, nothing remarkable in the structure of the joints. I have now (officially) been referred to the orthopedic specialist with whom I have an appointment next Wednesday. Expect an MRI, diagnosis, and probably surgery. Would take bets on it.

Got in a decent workout this afternoon, then went off shopping. No stuffed snakes to be had, but did find Salonpas, hand sanitizer, and an ice pack at Walgreens.

Happy to know I may finally get to the bottom of the arm debacle. Wish it would move along a little more quickly, but in fairness to all, I can’t complain. It’s me who’s allowed the thing to go on so long.

Nice talk with my buddy S, late this morning.

Need to give Mom a call tomorrow.

You be the judge...

So, a step forward maybe. Two steps forward.

Up to work early, some good writing before going off to PT. After, home again, a little more writing.

Worked out, then drove to the bank, the barber, and the doc’s office for X-rays. Talked you young Jack when I got home. After that, Mom.

Got in a short walk around five. Beat now.

Calling it a day.

An x-ray, an x-ray! My kingdom for an x-ray!

This is why expectations are pointless.

Woke early, was in front of the keyboard before six, managed two hours of decent writing, then watched the rest of the day implode.

Three hours plus on the phone with the health care idiots. First with tech, trying to get the patient portal to work, then with a parade of well-meaning, but mostly benighted underlings. Played advocate for myself in an attempt to get treatment for the arm, but without much success. Explained there was no point having a discussion unless we knew exactly what it was we were talking about, but rather than prescribe an X-ray or MRI—anything that might provide a picture of the injury— they recommended another round of teleconferencing. I hung up, called an orthopedic specialist on my own. We’ll see what comes of it. Supposed to hear back from them tomorrow.

The rest of the day went pretty much the same. False starts, wasted time. Nothing accomplished. Didn’t even get around to working out. Took a nap to try and forget about the pain, and it turned out to be the best decision I made since getting out of bed. Feeling better now, clear-headed anyway. Maybe I can salvage the evening.

Mom’s angiogram positive. She’s now looking at release sometime tomorrow with possible heart-valve surgery in two weeks. Fingers crossed she gets what she wants.

You tell me...

Back in that place. The bad arm place. Evening comes, I get tired, the arm gets tired, and pretty soon nobody’s having any fun.

On the bright side, the revisions of the new novel are coming along pretty well. Got an easy, relaxed thing going. Oddly—and this may be the first time ever—I’ve found myself worrying about exceeding a word count. Anyway, things are moving in the right direction.

Soft day today. Worked, walked, worked out. No nap, but none necessary.

Gonna try and get to bed early tonight and hit it hard tomorrow. Need to make another doc appointment, check up on Mom, and see about a potential commercial project. The rest should be cake, right?

It's Saturday, right?

Early rise today. Not enough to beat the sun, but not bad. Put in some good work at the keyboard.

Spent some time working out, and think it helped the arm. Warmed it up anyway. Can’t say I did much the rest of the afternoon but lie around and read. Take a short nap before a firewood delivery truck came rumbling through the neighborhood raising hell.

Thought I might grill a couple of steaks tonight, but lost the ambition after the rain started. Figure to stay in and have grilled cheese sandwiches instead.

Got a note over a story submission. Editors letting me know the piece has made it to the top man. Making sure it’s still available. Watch, they’ll reject it in end!

Skies gray and weepy tonight. Hope it adds up to some serious moisture.

Young K across the street appears to be doing some home ministry. Long line of cars keeps coming and going. Masks, no masks. People of all shapes and sizes. Strange times, indeed.

A smorgasbord of painful realities...

There’s story material in just about everything, I guess. For me, the arm’s provided a novel’s worth. Woke in the middle of the night knowing exactly how Grendel must’ve felt when he met up with Beowulf. Like someone was tearing it from its socket. Worse, it stayed that way all day. Is still that way.

On the positive side, got some decent revision work in, and later, managed to catch up with mom. She sounded strong, less down than I might’ve expected. Said they’re looking at releasing her after the weekend. There’s been some discussion of a valve procedure, but haven’t heard anything official.

Got to FaceTime later with Jackie this afternoon. So maybe the day went better than I remember. He was waxing philosophic about his part in developing a Covid vaccine. Said, “I’m not a researcher, I’m a builder.” (In this case, I believe he meant builder of consensus. But hey, I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth.)

Mowed my lawns. One looks fine, the other not. The way it goes, right?

Took an early evening walk around the hood. Not much culinary ambition tonight. Pot pies. A glass of whiskey. Hemlock? Whatever works.

Walking the line...

Beat tonight. Must’ve been the PT.

Up early thanks to the arm, and out the door to the cottage. Made a lot of good revisions on the new novel before going off to therapy.

Wrote a little more when I got home, proofed some old material, worked out and took a nap watching Double Indemnity. Got in a short walk late evening. Made an olive/chicken dish for dinner. Wasn’t much of a day, but it was the best it was going to be.

Enjoyed the Grant series on the History Channel. Gonna have to bookmark it for another viewing.

Mom not released yet. Happy she has so many people looking after her.

And there you have it...

Up early, just after 5:00. Got in some good time with the new novel. After that, coffee on the patio and an easy workout.

Spent most of the afternoon in a Zoom conference with the doctor down in Albuquerque. Mom’s to be released in a day or so. Calcified aortic valve, congestive heart failure. Other stuff. Palliative care, then hospice.

Later, got a call from Jack and Matty. Nice way to end a downer day.

Not sure what tomorrow’s gonna bring—except for more PT.

Tuesday, and more...

Slept in as best I could. Up at 7:00, but only got in a submission or two before heading off for PT.

Worked out. Took a nap. Spoke briefly to mom. She’s in palliative care now. No direct conversation with doc, but understand we’re to have a zoom conference soon. She’s in the hospital through tomorrow. After that, who knows?

Letter off to the boys.

Sad night.

Looking for an early rise tomorrow, start piecing things together.