The Doctoring Season
Another gray dawn here in Oysterville. “It sure doesn’t seem like July,” I said. “In fact, it doesn’t even seem like summer yet.”
“Nope. It’s not. It’s the doctoring season,” was the somewhat grumpy response.
I agree. We’ve had more doctor’s appointments these last four weeks than you can rattle a pill bottle at. Three this week. Beginning today. All in Portland. Two of them up-and-backs. One a hospital overnighter and maybe longer.
This week, Nyel is in the spotlight – heart issues, mostly. I’ve done my share of out-of-town visits this season, as well. But, praise be, mostly fairly mundane items – the dermatologist, the dentist, the ophthalmologist. Check-ups and prescription adjustments – the patch, patch, patch of old age. And always the accompanying mantra, “It beats the alternative.”
On the plus side is our shiny new Forester which sounds as though it should be dark green but, in reality, is Venetian Red Pearl according to Subaru. I say it’s cranberry in color and pretty saucy, too. We are still figuring out all the bells and whistles, safety-wise – which buttons to push for which kind of cruise control, adaptive or regular and what the warning ding-ding-dings are signifying when we don’t think we did anything.
Plus, we are trying to decide if we want to get the optional satellite radio station for an extra hundred and eighty bucks a year. We have a few more free-trial months, but I’m inclining to ‘no.’ Their only folk station is online which doesn’t do us any good in the car. That’s a deal-breaker for me in spite of the Willie Nelson channel that Nyel favors. It’s amazing to me that of their 150 channels featuring every kind of music I ever heard of (and some I haven’t), there’s nothing devoted entirely to folk. No channel that features Pete Seeger; or Peter, Paul and Mary; or Woody Guthrie or Joni Mitchel or Joan Baez or John Denver. What the heck?
So, along with a thermos of coffee (decaf – we’re old) we’re packing up our own personal top forty favorites – Fred Carter, Judy Eron, Cate Gable, Larry Murante, Randal Bays, Carolyn Cruso, RCMQ, Aaron English, The Willapa Hills, and, and, and… We’re all set for the rest of the Doctoring Season – God willin’ and the creek don’t rise!
We did not renew the Siri. Useless.