Wine

I like wine with meals.  I like a particular type and brand of wine.  It is produced by Twisted Cellars and it is called "Twisted".  It is an old vine zinfandel (hence "twisted").  It is inexpensive and nothing fancy.  It gets good reviews on sites discussing affordable wines.  This is not an ad for it, I just happen to like the stuff with my meals.

So why do I mention it?  It is apparently a limited production and sometimes not available.  I found it in a local butcher/deli/liquor store years ago.  It apparently didn't sell well, so they stopped shelving it.  But I liked it enough to ask if they could special order it.  I'm a good customer, so they did if I would buy 4-6 cases of it at a time.  Well, why not?  It's not like it goes bad in a few months.

I'm so used to it now that everything else tastes a bit "off".    So when the supply dried up recently, I went searching for it.  That happened a few years ago too.  A wine store (60 miles away) in my State sells it, but says they can't ship it to me.  Yet a wine store in New York State (300 miles away) will.

I ordered 8 cases from NY last week.  It arrived in 3 days.  I am baffled by why one State can ship wine to me but my own State cannot, but laws are weird.  So I'm good for 6 months.

But the NY store was also out of stock for 3 months, and I decided to try similarly-described wines available at the local store.  You know that stuff about "hints of blackberry, after-tongue fruitiness, good palate"?  That's mostly all fake jargon.  But if a wine has the same descriptions as the one I like, it stands a good chance of being equally satisfactory.

Seeking an alternative (before the NY store had a supply of the "Twisted"), I tried an Argentinean Malbec (Frontera).  Drinking it now.  It's close but very slightly more acidic.  I could live with that.  It goes well with grilled meats, tomato sauces, and roasted chicken or pork.

But I'm glad the NY store came through with the Twisted.

Primary Election Day

Today is Primary Election Day in Maryland.  I had a sample ballot.  The top decisions were easy, but who knows anything about School Board or County Commissioners?  I couldn't name a one.

I'm analytical.  I want information.  The League Of Women Voters used to send out letters where all the candidates could describe themselves in a few paragraphs but apparently that was stopped by one of those Supreme Court decisions saying "information was sort of unfair".

I found their website last week, though.  They can still ask candidates to talk about their qualifications.  I went through every candidate down to the least of offices and marked my choices on my sample ballot.  

I did my homework.  Some candidates immediately disqualified themselves (in my personal view).  Too weird, too unqualified, too fanatical.  Sometimes, it is good to just get the crazies off your list and hope for the best among the rest.

At least I go to the voting booth knowing not only "who" but "why" I am voting for particular people.  I wish more people did.  And in a Primary Election...

Dental 2

Well, it's been a week since the tooth was extracted.  All in all, it has gone rather well.    The dentist said I was in for a miserable 48 hours, a week of annoyance, would be a left-side chewer the rest of my life, and would feel a "Grand Canyon" for a long time where the tooth was.  And that I could expect my outer cheek to be bruised and sensitive.

He recommended ice on my cheek, Tylenol 3 for the pain, and soft food for a month.  Considering the way he had to drill and break the tooth (a horrible sound), I expected that would be true.

The truth is that I seem to have gotten off easy.  I took a Tylenol 3 pill as the novocaine was wearing off, but I didn't really need it.  I never bothered to take another.  I never bothered with the ice.  I had no bruised or sensitive cheek.

The cut gum did take a couple days to stop seeping some blood.  The seemingly-over-abundance of gauze pads they gave me to fold and keep over the extraction point were actually barely enough.  He admitted that he had to do more cutting than he expected, so that makes sense.

The gap does feel huge.  My tongue says it is an inch wide, but it is really only about 1/4".  It was the most forward pre-molar and those are not very large.  

The gap may even become smaller over time.  A dentist from a few decades ago wanted to remove a couple teeth just so the remaining ones could spread out.  I have a small jaw and it forced some teeth slightly crooked.  Apparently, teeth can actually move slightly, given some space.  That seems a bit odd (since they are in bone), but I had read about that a couple of times elsewhere.  Well, bone is actually living tissue, so I suppose it's possible.  I really hope that is correct, because my lower right incisor is a bit out of place and if the new empty spot allows it to straighten some, that would be good.

The dissolving stitches did indeed dissolve.  Monday (4 days to the minute after the extraction LOL) I felt a slight stringy sensation sort of like a celery string between 2 teeth.  I was careful about it.  But a 1/4 inch piece of "something" came loose onto my tongue and it was a thread.  Touching the spot carefully, they were all loose and I removed them.

So it could have been a lot worse.  I remember co-workers talking about how horrible their extraction was.  Pain for days in spite of medications, etc.   

I'm probably not doomed to left-side chewing forever.  After the 2 lower right back molars (wisdom tooth and the one next to it) were removed 20 years ago, it eventually didn't bother me to chew in that area after a month.  I hope this new gap eventually toughens up like those did.

If not, well, getting older sucks and things start to go wrong.  You adjust as best you can.  My right knee is not great sometimes, my lower back hurts sometimes, I get leg muscle cramps laying in bed and rib muscle cramps when I twist around reaching for things behind me.  I get finger-clenches if I grip tools too long doing yardwork (it occurs a few hours later while doing knife-work preparing dinner).  I really should remember to wear my padded garden gloves routinely.

Regarding that, I have a good supply of aspirin-infused ointment, lidocaine gel, and ibuprofen tablets.  But that is not about the dental work, so I will let that go for now.

I'm just glad the tooth extraction (bad as it was in the dentist's chair) went well afterwards.

Dental Woes

Well, I've gone and lost another tooth!  I lost 2 teeth about 15-20 years ago due to a cherry pit, and it has happened again...

The 2 teeth years ago were because I was cutting a cantelope into cubes while eating cherries and I forgot what I was eating.  Thinking "cantelope", I just bit down.  Crushed a molar.  PAIN!  I could only get an appointment with my then-dentist 3 days later, so I had fun sucking soup through a straw for 3 days.

The dentist said it couldn't be saved and had to come out.  And during the extraction, he found the roots were entangled with the wisdom tooth, so it had to come out to.  Fortunately, the extractions themselves didn't hurt.  But the pulling was brutal.  They were upper teeth, so he had to pull down.  

I could barely hold my head up to counter the down-pull.  Now I understand the phrase "like pulling teeth"!  My recollection is that there were no healing problems after, and it seems to me that I chewed normally after a few days.

So Wed 6-29, I was eating cherries.  Given my previous experience, I am careful.  But I still managed a glancing scrape with a pit.  I froze in place, expecting pain.  None.  Two days later, I was eating chocolate chip ice cream and suddenly felt a jolt.  I guess those frozen chips are HARD!

It was a tooth with a filling.  I could tell something was slightly loose, but nothing actually came out.  It wasn't temperature-sensitive but it was pressure-sensitive.  Naturally, that was Friday evening before a 3 day holiday weekend.  My current dentist's office was closed until Tuesday July 5.  There is an emergency number, but I wasn't actually in any pain (so long as I didn't chew on it).

I overslept a bit Tuesday, but called the dentist as soon as I got up.  Oh, cruelty of oversleeping!  Had I called an hour earlier, they could have gotten me in that day.  As it was, they were fully booked until July 11.  But they said they would call if there was a cancellation.

There was.  I got in Thurs 7-7.  And it was for my preference of the 3 dentists there.  I say that because the other 2 are "you are just a jaw to me; sit there and shut up".  The other talks, explains, encourages patience, shows the x-rays on a monitor, etc.

I hate the x-rays!  I have a small jaw (and therefore crowded teeth) and the film insert cuts my gum (like I said, small jaw).  But when the dentist came in, he complimented his assistant (and me) for the very clear x-rays.  

That's where things went downhill.  He could tell if the tooth was chipped on one side or split down to the root.  He called a partner in to look at it and he couldn't decide either.

If a chip on the side, the tooth could be saved with a crown or root canal drilling.  If not, it had to be removed.  He doesn't do root canals because there are several specialist here who he says are more expert at it (he's honest).

So my choice was to go to a specialist (maybe waiting a week or 2) or having him extract it then and there.  It is a forward pre-molar.  He said extraction would affect my chewing for the rest of my life, so he recommended seeing a specialist and left my for a few minutes to decide.  

Talk about bad choices!  I initially decided to visit the specialists, but as I sat there, I lost confidence that the tooth could be saved.  And so I expected that, in 2 weeks of possible specialist drilling and pain and temporary fillings, I would be back in the same chair for an extraction anyway.

I opted to have it pulled.

Now, you have to understand that the previous 2 extracted teeth were removed rather easily.  Lots of pulling, but they came out rather easily.  And the dentist said a premolar was easier and there were no root entanglements.

So we went about the process of novacaine shots and waiting for it to take effect.  I should mention that I am a bit resistant to most medications.  I usually need an extra novacaine shot before my jaw is numb to the point where the dentist is satisfied.  But I was finally numb at the spot the dentist wanted.  And apparently he had to use a "special" one;  "carbo-something".

It got bad...  The tooth would not come out.  I could feel it move in the jaw, but it refused to release.  He had to drill and break it all the way down.  He apologized every step of the way.  I was shaking from the sounds of my tooth being broken apart and in anticipation of a sudden jolt of pain (never happened).  

45 minutes of fear and worry.  I have a mantra from the book 'Dune' that helped:  

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

I had to repeat it often...  

Eventually, he said, OK, we're done".  He explained to me afterwards that the tooth was both split to the roots (so it couldn't have been saved by a specialist) and that the roots were unusually deeply anchored (which was probably why it had a filling rather than a crown).

And then there was the healing.  First, he had had to cut at the gum to get the last of the deep roots out and chip some bone away, which required (dissolving) stitches.  He gave me prescriptions for pain (Tylenol 3) and an antibiotic.  And a long list of things not to do...  

They gave me a thick pad of little 2" gauze pads and doubled the usual amount because they expected I would need it.  It was to be folded and held on the wound by light tooth pressure.  I guess that was for the gum cuts on the sides.  I actually had to use a lot of those.  I normally stop bleeding fast, but enough of a wound does need help.  It took a whole day for the bleeding to stop.

The rules they gave me said to ice my cheek every hour, eat only the softest of foods (DUH!), rinse my mouth with salty water several times a day, take an antibiotic pill every 24 hours and Tylenol 3 as needed.  I didn't need the Tylenol 3 or ice.  In fact, I felt no pain at all after the novacaine wore off.  I'm taking the antibiotics as required of course.

I bought a cherry-pitter (I do love cherries).  I've been eating eggs, spaghetti, bananas, soup, boiled veggies, and potatoes, etc, for over a week.  But this too shall pass away.  The jaw bone will heal, the gums will toughen, etc in time.

I know this is a minor problem compared to those of many people.  I'm not trying to seem unusual, brave or stoic or anything.  But it was my rather bad week.

If that is the worst thing that happens to me this year, I will be grateful.  As I slowly slide into my elder years, I expect to experience worse, gradually but inevitably.  Mom always said "growing old isn't for sissies".

Let Us Grow Lettuce, He Said Crisply

The lettuce planters on the deck continue to grow new leaves after I harvest them.  I love that.

They got limp after a dry spell but recovered nicely.

 I do have to have salad with my dinner...

Flowers...

 It has become the time when flowers start blooming.  

Snow On The Mountain...

Tithonia...

Baptisia...

Star-Gazer Lillies (no fragrance but upright blooms).

Hydrangea...

Yucca...

Daylilies...

And it is going to get better...

Unfortunately, the Poison Ivy is thriving too.  I'll have to spray carefully...

Garden Enclosure Repairs

 I finally got at the broken garden enclosure PVC/conduit pipe frame the other day.  It was harder than I expected.  The problem with re-attaching 10' pipes is that you really need to be at both ends at once, and my reach doesn't go that far.

So, I had to make supports at one end to attach the other.  2 ladders involved.  And the far end kept slipping off the support.  It was sort of maddening, and a few times the pipes just fell on me.  But when things fall, you just pick them up and try again.  

What do you do then?  Try again.

I didn't want to use PVC cement too often.  Friction holds them pretty well and allows pulling them apart again if required.  But many of the connections were broken enough to really require cementing.  That in itself was awkward.  The cement comes in a can with a built-in brush.  But using too much melts the PVC.  So you have to wipe the brush almost clean.

Standing on a stepladder, holding the PVC pipes generally in place, and then wiping the cement brush around the PVC pipes is not easy.  But all you have to do is succeed once for each one and I managed.  

It went from...

There are some more connections to replace at the sides, but the center one was the hardest and most important.  There is only so much you can do in one day.  

I have to mention that it took more than 2 hands.  Sometimes people don't think about other parts of their bodies.  I supported PVC tubes on my shoulders, lifted chicken wire with my head, and even stuck one PVC tube supported with my suspenders at one point.  Whatever works, LOL!

Next to do, the PVC sides and the chicken wire top...

I Am Back

I went offline for a few days because I was angry and didn't want to inflict that on friends.   I am very political in some ways, but it is more personal views than organized politics.  I am not a member of any political organization.  Well, OK, I am registered as a Democrat.  Maryland US is a very definite Democratic State, and I want to vote in the Primaries.  

I have strong political/social views.  Always have.  When I was 10, I was allowed to stay up late to watch the Nixon/Kennedy debates in 1960.  Then in 1964, I supported Goldwater because the Democrats were just dithering about Vietnam and Goldwater said he would settle it.  I was 14, what did I know?  

In 1968, I went off to college (safe from the draft) but demonstrated against the increasing warfare (to no purpose as I saw it).  The body bags were coming home...

And I hated Nixon.  He lied and cheated.  I didn't know worse was to come with Reagan and Trump.  Today, I would take Nixon over Trump any day.  But you never know what the future will be when you are in the present in the past.

I screamed and yelled when Gore was denied the Presidency for reasons I considered cheating.  Probably slightly the same as Trump supporters do now.  But Gore conceded after the courts decided against him.  Trump did and does not.  So there are differences in accepting "the rule of law".

Which brings me to today.  I had "anger issues" in the past.  I spent my time on yelling and screaming sites into the early 2000s.  I punched a few holes is those cheap Luan doors I have (had them replaced later).  

I left those sites and I left the anger.  I started following a few calmer sites.  Max The PsychoKitty, a book discussion site (Clan Of The CaveBear) which focussed on the story and facts about 20,000 BCE.  A site that discussed religions factually (which was surprisingly calming, as it forced rational replies).

Last week, the US Supreme Court approved anyone carrying concealed guns.  I have concerns about guns.  I can argue about what a "well-regulated militia" means regarding the 2nd amendment.  But I did not "lose it then".

I "lost it" Friday morning upon hearing the the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.  After the leaked draft opinion a couple months ago, I thought it would have to alter the opinion because of what I (personally) thought were serious errors and was in opposition to the know general will of the population.

I really just didn't think they would do it!

I threw the radio across the room, scattering backup batteries everywhere.  Talk about "blaming the messenger" (sigh)...  I wanted to yell and shout here.  I stopped myself...  I decided to go offline for a few days to not say anything to upset friends.  It took several days to calm down.

I am no less angry, but I am back in control of it.  Being angry won't change the Supreme Court decision.  I will focus on future political actions.

I was wrong.  And I shouldn't have been surprised.  We have a very conservative Supreme Court now.  But I am not going to argue about it here.  I don't want Cavebear's Lair to be a political debate venue.

So while my first instinct was to yell and scream about the decision, I decided to avoid doing that.  You are all too important to me as long-standing friends.

I apologize for upsetting you all with the too-brief post saying I would be gone for an undetermined time.  I wasn't sure how long it would take.  But it was all I could say at the time.  Best to stay offline a few days than to post something I might regret for months or years.  

 I will be offline for the immediate future.

A Day Of Small Tasks

Yesterday my lower back wasn't bothering me and  my right knee wasn't feeling stiff, so I spent the day doing constant but light work.  Well, I didn't want to stress my back of knee (give them another day of rest).  It was mostly clean-up stuff like collecting broken 6-packs of seedling planting pots, slow-speed kitchen and bathroom cleaning, watering houseplants, gathering up scattered cat toys, etc.  It is good for the body to just stay mildly active sometimes.  

But I did get a few more serious  things taken care of:

1.  One of the more important things was to straight the bent electrical conduit pipes that fit inside the PVC tubes for the frame of my garden enclosure.  That may seem like serious work, but it is more tedious than physically hard.  It is most just getting some leverage.

I stuck one end of the metal conduit (which is thin compared to real iron pipe though not exactly flexible) under the trail hitch of the riding lawn mower and set a cinder block a few feet out.  Mild body weight was enough to bend part of it straighter again.  Then turned the pipe around and did it again.  Repeated that for the 4 bent conduit pipes.  Then moved the cinder block a little further away and did the middle part.  

They aren't perfect, but they are "straight enough".  They are just there to keep the 10' lengths of PVC tube from sagging.  I had to use PVC for the framing because the connections were complex at spots.  PVC has more connection options than electrical metal conduit (like this)...

The image is upside down to show all the connections.  The top one actually is used pointing down to attach a support pole to the ground.  The others hold ceiling poles to support the chicken wire covering the top of the enclosure.  

2.  Then I had to figure out what broken PVC and connecters I needed to replace.  To my relief, I only need 3 straight-line connectors and some new PVC cement and 3' of straight PVC tube.  The parts broke at angles that can be cemented back into place.  

Then I can roll the chicken wire back over the top and sides.  Actually, that will be harder than it sounds.  First, vines have grown up the sides and connected in fallen chicken wire and they all need to bu pruned away a few inches at a time.  I've done some of it, but it is slow work and I'll leave that for next week.

Second, part of the reason the top chicken wire collapsed was that the stuff is 4' wide, so there are 5 strips of it over the tops and sides.  I had clips holding them together, but they were weak.  They really need to be "sewn" together with aluminum wire.  I didn't do that when I built the enclosure and meant to every year after.  This time I will.

3.  I've been cutting apart old overgrown shrubs along the fence where I have a long 50' straight flowerbed of perennials and The Mews Memorial Garden.  I don't do too much at a time.  It takes a lot of twisting and bending, and too much of that causes muscle cramps and stiffness.  But I have the trailer stacked about as high as I can safely tie down, so I will be off to the County Recycling Center some Saturday soon.  

They pile up yard debris to make mulch/compost.  If I go on a Saturday, I can get the trailer loaded with it for free, and I have plenty of places to use it.  I could go there any Saturday, but I feel slightly guilty if I'm not providing fresh material.  LOL!

4.  Planted 2 cherry tomatoes in a large pot on the deck.  Well, 2 grew in one small pot, so rather than damage their roots separating them, I just planted them as one.  They are draped over the lower rails.  To ease the bending, I stuck foam tubing on the rail boards. The stuff is actually insulation for putting around hot water pipes to reduce heat loss, but I have a talent for "repurposing" leftover stuff.  I try to help my plants as much as possible!

5.  My meadow bed has wild grass growing in it, which competes with the flowers.  Since I went to a lot of effort to plan 40 seedling and transplanted 8 existing Black-eyed Susans there a couple weeks ago (and they seem to be getting established - at least none have died), I wanted to think of a way to help them a bit.  Well, I collect a lot of thin cardboard from cat food trays from the stores.  So I cut them into 10" squares.  I'll cut a 2" hole in the center and a slot to one edge.  Then I'll slip them around the seedlings to smother weeds/grass.

6.  Mowed the daffodil bed.  In previous years, weeds and grass grew over the Summer.  I've tried covering the area with black plastic sheeting for several years (after the daffs died back), but it collected rainwater and mosquitos bred there so I kept having to poke holes for drainage.  It finally got too brittle from U/V rays and ripped apart.  This time, I'll cover it with black water-permeable fabric.  It is more U/V resistant and lets water sink through.  But that's for "next week" too.

  -------

After that, it was making dinner, watching The January 6th Insurrection House Committee Report summary/analysis on MSNBC, and processing some pics off the camera.  

A Nice Morning

I got up really early yesterday (for me, 9 am).  It was nice outside.  Fed The Mews and we all (except for Ayla of course) went outside.   Cool and calm...

Walked around the backyard and they followed me.  Not in a trail, but generally around me.  They like it when I am outside with them.  Too often, when I am outside, they can't be (lawn mower, open gates, etc).

But not this time.  I followed them around.  Marley knows his territory well and never leaves it.  Laz is a bit more explorish, but stays inside the backyard "usually" (he sometimes seeks mice in the front yard but understands the street is dangerous and stays away from it).  Lori barely wanders the backyard but will follow Laz "some".  I could see Ayla sitting inside on the bathroom windowsill.  

So I was there just watching them walk around.  And wherever I went, they did too.  Not like they were at my feet, but they generally stayed "near", like 20-30'.  So I was under the backyard Saucer Magnolia tree and laid down on the "needs-to-be-mowed" lawn and looked up at it for about 5 minutes.  It was a nice change of view...

And suddenly realized that The Mews were all sitting within a few feet of me!  Not snuggling close like in bed, just sitting around me some few feet away, ya know?  

Beautiful happy cats, all unique in some ways, getting along, enjoying their lives here, happy to be around me...

I must be the luckiest Cat-Daddy on Earth.