12 Oakdale

The sharp pain in my left shoulder is due to my shoulder capsule being inflamed rather than a rotator cuff tear, so that was good news. According to Kirsten, my physical therapist, this can be alleviated with stretching and exercise. She stretches; I exercise. At home, I have an app to follow which Kirsten can monitor and change remotely. Every time I use it I can send a report and get a virtual gold star.  This was problematic while cabin camping at Myakka River State Park this week because our Sprint phones have no bars in most of the park. I exercised at the cabin, then when I was near the concession stand’s WiF, I ran the app to get credit.  The previous Friday we went to a Toyota dealer to look at Tacoma pickups. I wanted to see if the extended cab rear seats would fit Clara. Not hardly. They are smaller than airplane jump seats for the flight attendants. So crew cab for us. There were 2 2018’s on the lot with some 2021 trickling in over the next few months. A computer ch...

I don’t know how everyone feels, but in our circle of friends and among the late night TV hosts, there is a huge drop in tension now that Joe Biden has not only been elected President, but also has lived to be inaugurated today. No Covid, no crazy shooter. I don’t believe we’ve moved into nirvana like a couple of my UU friends do, but just to have some normality sounds pretty good. We were spared the 24/7 ramp up to the ceremony because we were at Myakka River State Park for our annual Cabin Camping with two other couples. One man is a news junkie and has Verizon cell phone service, so using his hot spot, we were able to watch some on my iPad, including the amazing poet Amanda Gordon, the oaths of office by Kamala Harris and Biden, and his speech calling for unity. After that, I wandered off to do more birding. YouTube will have all the rest. I did watch Lady Gaga sing our national anthem when I got home. It was chilling when she sang, “that our flag was still there.” Seemed a little i...