Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Wednesday Has Arrived

I Remember Mom’s Laughing!  As  a little boy I opened the big family Bible. I was fascinated as I fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. I picked up the object and looked at it. What I saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. ‘Mama, look what I found,’ I called out. ‘What have you got there, dear?’ With astonishment in my voice, I answered, ‘I think it’s Adam ‘s underwear!’ I think Mom is still laughing!

I am up and at it by 7:30 AM departing for Long Beach to see my doctor’s Physicians Assistant.  I ran out of blood pressure meds and I must be seen by a doctor in order to prescribe another dose, it’s the law!  Dr. Asbill was not in but the PA (physicians assistant) could see me. His name was Jethro…NCIS here I come!

Did You Know? A physician assistant (US/Canada) or physician associate (UK) is a healthcare professional who practices medicine as a part of a healthcare team with collaborating physicians and other providers. In the United States, PAs are nationally certified and state licensed to practice medicine.

A certified PA may add “C” at the end of his/her postnominal credentials. PAs are trained with the medical model and complete these qualifications in less time than a traditional medical degree. The educational model for PAs is based on the fast-tracked training of physicians during World War II. In Canada, Canadian Certified Physician Assistant (CCPA) is the credential awarded upon licensure.

PAs are concerned with preventing and treating human illness and injury by providing a plethora of health care services under a supervising physician. Their scope of practice varies by jurisdiction and healthcare setting.

I returned home via the side-streets as I did not want to fight the 8:45 AM freeway traffic.  I passed by the hardware store and several breakfast joins but decided I wanted to get home ASAP to make Sue was OK.

She was doing much better in terms of the cold so I decided I could work in the garage for a while.  Every day things get a little better and more organized!  The shop is coming to life.  Today, I every started my emergency generator…8,000 of instant power to run the house in case of a disaster.  I even have syphons so I can draw gas from the cars.  The generator will run for a week and has enough juice to run the lights, TV, and refrigerators. 

The PA sent the prescriptions to CVS so I decided to join CVS on-line and it is quite good.  I now can see the history of all my meds plus Sue’s.  We get notified when we around about out of refills plus a bunch of other things!

We pass by there many times a day and now prescription pickup is a snap!
Tom, Grandpa Lewis, me & Gayla

Circa 1953-54 taken at the Lewis home in Tracy California on one of our many trips up Highway 99.  During the summer it was hot in Tracy and there was no air-conditioning…at best a swamp cooler in the den.  Tom and I would play next door (because it  was a 20 acre farm) and we moved and piled bales of straw to make forts, bridges, roads, stairs…anything two boys could imagine!  Gayla was the “tattle-tail*” and always got us in trouble.

Tom Hale was like a brother to me as we piloted our rocket ship to Mars and back, got “chased” by a snake, rode a cow, and took the ol’ combine for a spin down Highway 66 (in our imaginations).

Tom and I together on Comey Avenue 1955
We were joined at the hip every summer!  Was I a Strawberry Blond or what? And yes, those are genuine Keds tennis shoes!
My cousin Tom Hale taken about a year before his passing
65 year later…He was a good man who I miss every day!

Did You Know? In 1916, U.S. Rubber, one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896,  consolidated 30 different shoe brand names to create one company. Initially, the brand name “Peds” was chosen for the company from the Latin word for feet, but the name was already trademarked. Keds was founded in 1916 and was later acquired by Stride Rite Corporation.  Because the shoes had a soft rubber sole, they became known as sneakers as the rubber soles allowed “sneaking around silently”. By the early 1920s, the shoes were worn by Olympic soccer players, national and international tennis champions, and college athletes.

The old home is now gone, replaced by a shopping center and parking lot.  I do remember those long hot days, picking things from the garden, going fishing in the local streams, and listening to the trains passing by the little ol’ house on Grand Road in Tracy, California!

Tommy passed last year just before his 73rd birthday…that’s when I first saw my own morality…it is sobering so say the least!

* tattletale. informer, talebearer, tattler, busybody, troublemaker, blabbermouth, snitch*, fink*, squealer*, stool pigeon*, stoolie*, rat*, ratfink*.

Back to today…

Work is never done around the house and today was no different.  I emptied the old refrigerator and called the trash guys to come get it…tomorrow I head for Lowe’s and look for a damaged refrigerator/freezer so I can send our freezer to Zachary…We do not need a 24 Cu. Ft. freezer  and a 20 Cu. Ft. refrigerator anymore!

We decided to go to Old Ranch and read our book  in the main dining room wile the cleaning people did their thing.

Grandma is deep in thought reading her adventure/mysteries!

The course was not terribly busy today and we got to visit with many of the staff who saw us and stopped in to say howdy!

I sit and daydream of playing golf

We called Mitch and had him join us at The Olive Garden at 5:30 PM.  We dined and shared and had a great time.  Image, three of us an zero booze.  I did a lemonade, Sue did her no-alcohol wine, and Mitch did the Iced Tea, Miracles do happen!

,,,and we headed home in the dark…time is a changing!

After getting home, we watched TV until about 11:30 PM and crashed…of course, we did tookies at 10:30 PM!

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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