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Moaning and Groaning About Deck Maintenance
We’re pretty dedicated to maintaining everything about our property, including deck maintenance. Check that; actually, my wife is dedicated. I’m usually hard to find when it comes to chores like that. When it’s time for deck cleaning and sealing, there is always some emergency I need to address on the other side of town or…
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If You Can’t Stand the Heat…
We saw this rabbit in our front yard today, stretched out on the grass under our crabapple tree. It’s 117 degrees this afternoon with the heat index and we won’t get out from under the Excessive Heat Warning until later this evening. Thank goodness for air conditioning. Rabbits don’t have air conditioning and can’t escape…
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Back in the Saddle
Well, I’m pretty tapped out, so it’ll be a short post today. I’m back in the saddle, running around the hospital on the psychiatry consult service. This is my last year of phased retirement and in 11 months—I’ll be fully retired. I put 36 floors and 3 miles on the step counter. I’m feeling every…
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Hickory Hill Park Ramble
We visited Hickory Hill Park today in Iowa City. We’ve lived in this area for 30 years and have been near it but never walked a trail until now. It’s full of trees, birds, and other wildlife, including deer, which seemed to pose for the camera. I say we’ve been near it because we have…
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My Top Ten YouTube Videos
OK, my top ten YouTube videos are going to get pretty low ratings anyplace else. But where else are you going to see the list but on my blog? In a world where popular videos are viral at a million plus views, I’m way in the back yard. I wasn’t very picky, of course, because…
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The Paperboy
I don’t read the news much at all these days. It’s almost always bad, anyway. I was a paperboy in my youth. I delivered the Des Moines Register and Tribune for a year and earned a certificate as Honor Salesman. Let me tell you a little something about being an Honor Salesman back in those…
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The Retirement Home Search and The Well of Memories
We were out for an adventure today, shopping for a retirement home. That’s what it was, really, although we really didn’t make any hard decisions or commitments. Nowadays there are considerations for whether to build from the ground up, buy and modify a spec home, buy an older home, go condo, even rent, move to…
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Retirement Home?
You know, sometimes I wonder about rephrasing the line in the Men in Black movie, “Let’s put it on…the last suit you’ll ever wear.” How about, “Let’s do it…the last house you’ll ever buy.” That’s what I think the retirement home should be. Houses are getting harder to find and the home-buying experience has sometimes…
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Thoughts on Paunch
I’ve thought about my weight over the past few days and decided to look at a few pictures. I had not realized that I had lost about 20 pounds over the last several years. This was all intentional and I’ve shed about 7 of those in the last six months—due mainly to daily exercise including…
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Robin Saga: Start to Finish
We’re just a bit on the sad side today. The robin chicks are gone. It’s another empty nest and sort of the story of our yard over the last month or so, what with the loss of the house finch and cardinal chicks before this. It’s a hard life for every creature. On the other…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 