Ephemera #176

• Went to see "Mandalorian and Grogu".  While I liked it, it would have made a better three episode arc for the TV series than a movie.  I was hoping, as a movie, it would have higher production values and writing, but it was the same as the TV series.  It felt like they put this out to attract more subscribers to Disney+.
  
  I also watched a couple marvel shows.  The first was season two of "Daredevil: Born Again".  This I liked.  Looking forward to season three.  The other was "Wonder Man".  This short season one was an introduction to the characters.  It was good enough but I think the real meat of the series will be in season two.
• I walked 5 times since the last Ephemera post totalling 32.8 miles (52.9 km).  It is getting hotter and more humid here in Omaha so walking has become a struggle.  It sucks when you totally soak your shirt with sweat after walking only three blocks.
• This week I have my prostate biopsy.  It's a more detailed biopsy as the MRI reader suggested.  This means twenty-four samples versus the usual twelve samples.  Not really looking forward to this as each sample collection feels like a bee sting in your nether regions.

Ephemera #175

I can't call this post Weekly Ephemera when I haven't been even close to being weekly.   Let's see if I can catch up with what has been happening over the month since my last ephemera post.

• Three weeks ago we went to the Hot Shops open house.  It had been a few years since the last time we'd attended one of these biannual open houses.  It was a beautiful day for it.  We went downtown, had lunch near the stadium, and walked over to Hot Shops.  We browsed the artists' studios and had a nice afternoon.  The Wife bought some Nun note cards and I bought a t-shirt with original art.
• Last weekend we went to Minneapolis to attend the confirmations of three of the Wife's cousins (third removed).  The Wife was sponsor for one of them.  We had a party and attended the ceremony at the cathedral.  It was nice.
• 
  Usually, when we visit family in Minneapolis we usually just do things with the cousins but this time we had some free time and we went to see Paisley Park, the studio, and eventually home, of Prince.  It was a very put together museum and tour.  The Wife was more into Prince than I was but I still found it interesting.  Photos were restricted in most areas but they did allow a few in one area of the complex.  (2026-05-18 Paisley Park Google Photos album)
• The weekend we went to the Brownville Flea Market, market as the world largest which I think is a bit exaggerated.  This is another thing we used to do regularly but haven't done in over five years.  We tried hard but we didn't find any treasures to buy.  We ate some delicious pulled pork and mac-n-cheese and headed back home empty handed.  I wasn't really looking for anything in particular but you could probably find anything you wanted there if you looked hard enough.
• I had my biannual blood draw a week ago.  My glucose and A1C numbers did improve a bit but my lipids inch up.  Most of those are still in the normal range but my HDL (good cholesterol) was well below the good range which sucks.  I have a visit with my nurse practitioner this coming week so we'll see what she thinks.
• My walking has been a bit sporadic.  Since my last Ephemera post, I've walked only 44.3 miles (71.2 km).  I even took last week off which wasn't helpful.  This week i'm going to get back into it ... as I have promises again and again and again and ...

Fifteenth Caminoversary ... How Time Flies

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of me starting my first Camino de Santiago.  I was excited and a bit nervous as I left St Jean Pied de Port, FR on a five hundred plus mile trek across northern Spain.  A walk that would change how I saw myself.  I have tried to recapture that feeling on other hikes but some first times cannot be repeated.

A sunrise full of promise.

This also marks the beginning of the Wife's Camino in 2023.  She also had a meaningful experience.  I guess the Camino has a way of touching people in special ways.

Weekly Ephemera #174

These 'weekly' posts are starting to be more like 'weakly' posts.

• While it's still cool here, I started preparing things for summer.  Our AC has been inspected and is ready to go.  I also tackled a leaky toilet.
• On the television front I finished "The Repair Shop".  I checked to see if there were more seasons and discovered that the host of the show is fighting rape charges so ... not sure there will be any more.
  
  After finishing "The Repair Shop" I watched a bunch of crappy Sci-Fi/mystery anthology series from the 1950s through the 1990s.  Frankly, the earlier stuff is better produced than the newer stuff.  I fall back to anthologies when I don't want to have to think too hard while watching television.
• I walked on and off since my last Weekly Ephemera post.  I walked seven times totalling 50.3 miles (81.0 km).
• May is starting to look like a busy month for the Wife and I.  
• We have a Hot Shops open house next Saturday.  It's been a few years since we've gone to one.
• Before mid-month I have to schedule my semi-annual blood draw.  It will be interesting to see if my A1C has gone down.
• We will be attending the confirmation of three of the Wife's cousins in Minneapolis.
• During Memorial Day weekend we will probably go to Brownville, NE for their semi-annual flea market.  Brownville is a nice little, Missouri river town with lots of history.  It's been a while since we've gone to one of these too.

Weekly Ephemera #173

• Had an MRI of my prostate.  Not much has changed from the one taken a year ago which is good.  I'm scheduled for a biopsy in June to see how things have changed since the last one I had last year.
• I walked 38.8 miles (62.5 km) since my last Weekly Ephemera post.  This last week I actually managed to walk three times which has been a struggle this year.
• I finished the second season of "Fallout".  It was ok.
• We've started to plan out our 2027 travels.  We are looking at a loose festival theme that would include Holy Week in Spain, Dia de los Muertos in Oaxaca, and San Diego Comic-Con.

Weekly Ephemera #172

I haven't been very good at writing lately.  I have skipped several Weekly Ephemera posts and I have not documented important things in my life such as the family funeral in Texas.  I have been ... out of my rhythm since the beginning of the year.  I am catching up, slowly but surely.  Hopefully I will re-find my groove sometime soon.

• March Madness (college basketball) started this week so the Wife has hidden away in the she-shed watching multiple games simultaneously.  I have putzed around upstairs, mostly watching "The Repair Shop" on the Roku channel.
• Since I last reported my walks, I have only walked seven times totalling 48.3 miles (77.8 km).  I have struggled to walk longer distances and consistently during the week.  I think I am running into a situation where my diabetic medication may be reducing my energy.  I have noticed that, when I eat more carbs, I feel better on my walks.  Perhaps the medication is finally kicking in and lowering my blood sugar.  It does seem to have lowered my weight as I've dropped five to seven pounds since I started taking it.
• This week I have to take the car in for an oil change after putting over six thousand miles on it in the last couple months.  I also have an MRI scheduled to get my prostate imaged.

Have a good day! ... Take a smile.

Weekly Ephemera #170

Another couple of weeks that really didn't matter much.

• We really didn't do anything.  The Wife watched basketball and went to Mass , including one with her little cousin.  I just vegged, napped, and didn't do much else.
• I finally finished "Alien:Earth"  It took me two months to finish the last three episodes.  I liked it but it didn't excite me.
  
  I watched "Jurassic World: Rebirth" with expectations of seeing ScarJo kill some dinosaurs.  Strangely enough, no dinosaurs were killed by any of the humans, as far as I could see.  Several humans were killed by the dinosaurs though.  It was ok but it felt a little flat for me.
• I walked four times over the last two weeks.  I walked 29.8 miles (48 km) since my last Weekly Ephemera post.  On my last walk I must have looked bad as a lady in a car stopped and asked if I needed a ride.

Weekly Ephemera #169

Last weekend was a bit busy so I missed  a weekly update so this one will include some of last week.

• Last weekend the Wife's aunt and cousins visited from Florida.  They treated us to a Creighton men's Basketball game.  Unfortunately, my sports curse which had disappeared seems to have returned and Creighton lost.

Creighton vs Saint John

• This weekend the Wife hosted Bread Camp for her niece's husband and five year old son.  She taught them how to make different types of dough with their bread machine and made homemade pizza for dinner.
• We have finalized the bones of our next three trips.  The first will be a road trip after the Winter Olympics around Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California.  The second is just under two weeks in Cape Town, South Africa at the end of July.  The last is a month-long trip to Paris, northern France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium.  We have quirky things planned for all three of these trips, which I will document in posts prior to our travel dates.
• Over the last two weeks I walked four times for a total of 30.7 miles (49.4 km).  I missed a couple of walking days due to the visits.

Weekly Ephemera #168

The Holiday season has come to an end and, frankly, it felt like the shortest Holiday season ever.

• On New Year's day, after a quiet New Year's Eve, I took down the wreaths, lights, and ornaments from the front yard.  I took down the Christmas tree.  The Wife took the rest of the indoor decorations.  I will be stuffing everything into the furnace room closet this week sometime.
• I didn't walk this week.  I decided to take the last week of 2025 off.
• We watched the finale of "Stranger Things", which was a good end of the series.  Unfortunately it ended wide open for a sequel series.

Weekly Ephemera #167

• We had a quiet Christmas.  We went to see a movie ("Marty Supreme") which the Wife and I thought was Meh.  We ended the day with yummy steaks on the grill.
• I hiked three times this week for a total of 22.5 miles (36.2 km).  The walks were uneventful.
• We started watching "Stranger Things".  This is the last season and it seems to be a fitting finale so far.

Weekly Ephemera #166

Not much happened this week.  Just a relaxing week overall.

• I walked three times this week and did a good 23.1 miles (3.2 km).  The walks were uneventful though I learned not to park under a tree.  My car was covered in sticky berries/bird poop.
• I watched a couple good things this week.  The first was the third installment of the Knives Out franchise. "Wake Up Dead Men".  It probably wasn't as good as the first one but it was still entertaining.
  
  The second thing I watched was "The Amazing Digital Circus".  While I watched this on Netflix, it was first available on YouTube.  There are currently 7 episodes and the episodes do not come out in a fixed schedule,  varying from one month to seven months between episodes.  The show is a bit twisted and the seventh episode blew my mind. 

Weekly Ephemera #165

• I walked three times this week.  The first one was ... interesting.  This is what happened:
  

  I was walking in a middle-class area in Omaha called Benson.  I noticed three boys, sixteen to eighteen years of age (not sure) at a corner.  One of them flagged me down.  Now, I often get asked for the time or someone asks for cigarettes or a light, so this wasn't unusual.  What he asked was unusual.
  
  Boy: Can I ask how old are you?
  Me: Why do you want to know?
  Boy: Are you forty-five plus?
  Me: Why do you want to know?
  Boy: I hear when old people think too hard the blood drains from their d!cks and they go floppy.
  
  Ok, The kid is being an asshole for his buddies.  I give one of my standard answers to assholes:  God Bless, Jesus loves you, or 
  
  Me: I'm happy for you.
  Boy keeps on talking about flippity-floppity d!cks, not getting it up, and stuff.
  
  He's sort of blocking my way though I could easily have gotten around him but instead I said:
  
  Me: So, do you sit around thinking about my d!ck all day?
  
  He kinda moved out of my way and I walked away hearing him ranting at me. I didn't really hear what he said but He did say M*therf*cker and fa**ot.  They didn't follow me.
  
  I'm not sure if I handled that the right way.  My last statement did confuse him a bit.  I think he saw me as an easy mark and me throwing it back at him kind of stopped him in his tracks.  I'm sure his 'friends' were having a chuckle, too.
  
  All I can say is, I'm happy it ended well.  Omaha has had its share of shootings and stabbings.  It could have ended much differently.

  For the week, I walked three times for a total of 21.7 miles (34.9 km).  The second two walks were uneventful.
• On Tuesday our garage door spring broke.  Fortunately we had it fixed by the end of the day.
• I put up the big balls in the oak tree on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we had a big wind come through.  I was finding big balls over a block away from our house.  I didn't find all of them either, though I did find one that wasn't ours, so I think I broke even.

Weekly Ephemera #164

• It was an odd week for me.  I was in a do-nothing mood most of the week.
• I watched more episodes of "One Piece".  I still have a ways to go.
• I was going to walk three times this week but I ended up only walking once.  I walked 7.25 miles (11.7 km).  As I said, I was in a do-nothing mood.
• I tried to replace a spark plug in the snowblower but I simply discovered I am a crap small engine mechanic.  I gave up when I couldn't even get the boot off the spark plug.

Weekly Ephemera #162

• We celebrated an early Thanksgiving at the Wife's Niece's house on Saturday.  We had a good time with good food.  We are grateful that they include the Wife and I in their celebrations.
• On the prior Tuesday, I took my first blood test since I went on Metformin for my diabetes.  Unfortunately, my A1C and glucose went down only a tiny bit.  I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday to go over the results.  I expect either an increase in dosage or a change in drugs.
• I walked three times this week for a total of 24.4 miles ( 39.3 km).  This was a good week.  This coming week, I am considering taking a day off from walking on Monday.  We'll see.
• I started watching "Alien: Earth".  I haven't finished it yet but I have mixed feelings.  It is interesting but I am having trouble getting excited about it.  Not sure why since this should be right up my alley.

Weekly Ephemera #161

The defacing speaks volumes about the hate in people's hearts.

• The highlight of the week was a visit of the Wife's best friend on Thursday and Friday.  The wife and her had a great couple of days going out and watching a movie.  I stayed home and enjoyed the quiet of the house.
• I walked three times this week for a total of 21.2 miles (34.1 km).  This was a little shorter than last week but any week over twenty miles is a good week to me.  The picture above was seen on one of my walks.
  
  My blood pressure has also been in a more normal range for the last week or so so the walking appears to be helping.
• This coming week I have a blood draw to see if my diabetes medication is working or not.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed but I am also feeling a bit nervous that it isn't doing as well as I hope.
• Despite feeling a little nervous I have to admit that the past week or so have felt ... bright to me.  I have felt happier in general and content.  Not sure what changed, but it might have to do with me avoiding the news like the plague.  My tranquility may also be helping my blood pressure as much as the exercise.

Weekly Ephemera #160

• On Tuesday the Wife power washed the deck.  This is usually my job but she insisted on doing it.  She did a better job than I've done in the past, which may explain why she wanted to do it.
• We finally, after over five years, buried Iago's ashes in the garden next to Homer.
• I washed my car for the first time in forever.  It still looks dirty.  I think I just washed off the first two layers of dirt and left two or three on the car.
• I walked three times this week totalling 22.6 miles (36.4 km).  I am happy with this distance and my blood pressure, which has been high since we returned from our travels, is back down to my 'normal' range.

Weekly Ephemera #159

• We were going to have a visit of the Niece's family but sick kids changed those plans so, for Saturday I managed to get back to my routine.  I'm looking forward to the Niece's family to reschedule when everyone is feeling better.
• We've spent the week catching up with "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race"
• My blood pressure has been a little bit high since I got back from our travels so I decided to restart my walking.  I walked twice this week for a total of 13 miles (21 km).  The walks felt pretty good so I look forward to ramping up the distance again.
• The first of the travel posts should come out tomorrow or Tuesday.

Weekly Ephemera #156

• This week's highlights were visits from family and friends.  On Tuesday the MoH and BM dropped by on the way to their vacation.  We spent the evening digesting the superb steak dinner the Wife prepared while engaging in spirited conversation.  It is fair to say that none of the world's problems were solved.  Our guests treated us to breakfast the next day before they traveled on.
  
  Today, the Wife's best friend since high school is visiting.  Craziness will ensue.
• The HVAC guy came by this week and checked out our furnace.  Except for a dirty temperature sensor, everything is in good order.  We are now ready for the winter, though the weather for the next ten days or so is more summer-like than fall-like.
• This week I will be turning off our sprinkler system.  They will be blowing out the system in a week or so while we are traveling.  Potted plants and patio furniture will be brought in and the deck will be power washed.  Everything will be ready for winter when we leave.
• I did not walk this week and I will not walk next week.  I'm taking a break from walking until we return from our travels.
• I haven't really watched anything good on television.  But, I did watch some "Alfred Hitchcock Presents".  It's some easy background noise and it's fun seeing some of the old actors when they were young and new.  The writing is a bit hit and miss but my favorite part is Hitchcock introducing commercial and station identification breaks.  It is obvious he is not fond of the breaks interrupting his storytelling.  (For those who do not know, Station identification breaks allowed stations to let you know what station you were watching.  You don't see them much today because of the invention of the station's logo bug in the corner of the screen.)
• We are both getting ready for our trip.  We will be leaving on Thursday.  I hope the tropical storms off the coast of Georgia are gone by then, since our flight to Athens is through Atlanta.

Weekly Ephemera #155

• Forgot to mention last week that I got my Covid and Flu shots.  Take that, RFK jr!
• The Wife and I went to see "The Long Walk".  It is an interesting movie based on a Stephen King novel (writing as Richard Bachman).  It was good and felt ... relevant to our times.
• As for TV, I watched season thirteen of "Futurama" and I soaked in cheesy horror anthologies.
• I had a tough time walking this week.  After two 30 miles (48 km) plus weeks, my body just didn't want to walk.  I forced myself to walk twice, but they were shorter than what I have been doing.  I ended up walking a total of 16.6 miles (26.7 km).  I can already feel that next week won't be much different.

Weekly Ephemera #154

• Last Thursday was the anniversary of 9/11.  My feelings haven't changed since I wrote about it in 2023.  Based on the other news that occurred this week, it feels like our nation isn't getting any closer to regaining its sanity.
• I walked three times this week.  I've kept pushing myself, though I did shorten my third walk this week.  I walked a total of 31.5 miles (50.7 km) which was very satisfying.
• I finished the last three episodes of "Foundation" season 3 today.  Other than that, the Wife and I have found a safe place in the "Great Canadian Baking Show" on the Roku Channel.
• I re-read some of my posts that I'd written in 2006.  My writing sounded so much happier then.  I do not write as much as before.  I do not take as many pictures.  *sigh*