I went to Amazon and made a purchase this week. This is noteworthy because the purchase was a rake. We live in a neighborhood where lawn service is included. They did their job. Twice. But the leaves weren’t all down when they finished the second time. I decided I didn’t care. Then I noticed we were tracking a lot of crushed leaves into the house. So I went to the local big-box hardware stores. I wanted a rake that would fold up small, so I could fit it in the garage. I would also “go small” to get around all the bushes and get into the corners.The stores didn’t have one. It took less than an hour to do the leaves. I filled one 55-gallon bag. It’s a far cry from what I used to do in Kingsville. And I’m now ready for next year.

My bike needed new brakes. I have disk brakes. New pads cost about $2 / wheel. Installing them is tricky. The labor cost to have them installed is pretty large. I could take this as an opportunity to learn a new skill, or I could be lazy and let the shop do it. I thought about it carefully for several seconds before putting the bike rack on the car. I’m glad I took it to the shop. My rear wheel rim had cracks where the spokes go through. It never happened to me before because I used to ride a touring bike, which is basically a 2-wheeled tank. I wouldn’t have noticed this until I lost a spoke. (The picture is obvious, but with normal dirt and grime, it is difficult to see.) Lucky me! The shop fixed everything on a rainy day. I was on the road before all the pavement was dry.

Danita had a genuinely yucky day this week. She had PMR arthritis. The treatment is to sledgehammer your body with prednisone, then slowly taper off while your adrenal gland re-learns what it’s supposed to do. Danita was on the last step of tapering off when she started having problems. The doc said to go back on the prednisone. Two weeks and a blood test later, the doc said her PMR arthritis had probably morphed into rheumatoid arthritis. This happens to about 1/3 of PMR patients. No cure. New drugs. And she has to taper off prednisone again. We’re grateful it’s not life threatening. But it was a serious bummer.

Our neighborhood doesn’t have any parties this weekend. But we’ll be OK. We’re going up to have dinner with Mark and JaiJai in Lewisburg. Ed & Lynne will be joining us. We’re looking forward to a fun time.

I’d like to write more, but it’s snowing. We might get a half inch or so, but better safe than sorry. I don’t want to damage my fingers typing in this weather. I hope this finds everybody doing well.