Three Little Items Just in Passing

My urologist has prescribed gabapentin which is "an anti-epileptic drug, also called an anticonvulsant. It affects chemicals and nerves in the body that are involved in the cause of seizures and some types of pain." In my case it has been prescribed to help mitigate neuralgic pain. The bad news is that it doesn't seem to be working – not for that at least. 

However, an unintended but appreciated consequence seems to be that it has improved my sleep. I have been sleeping somewhat longer and have even slept for 8 hours twice in slightly just over a week. Seven hours has been common in that stretch, whereas it was somewhat rare previously.

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I have recently both re-read and watched The Long Call by Ann Cleeves (not "of Cleeves" though that would be so satisfying to me). The re-reading was done by listening on Audible after originally reading it in the normal fashion some time ago.

It has also been released as a four-part series on Acorn. I know that some of you subscribe to Acorn, so I thought I would mention it here.

I liked both the book and the tv series, which maintained the integrity of the plot and characters while also adapting it for screen in the ways that they invariably do. The reasons for the alterations are not always clear to this man's poor excuse for a brain, but I am a muddled old fella anyway..

I recommend it. When Sue and I watch a somewhat disappointing mystery, or indeed any other blah tv program, we look at each other and say, "It's not Morse." Some of you will know to what program I am referring. It's an old fave and a precursor to Endeavour, currently playing, or about to be playing, on PBS. We didn't say that about The Long Call. And that, dear folk, is a pretty darn good recommendation.

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When I did the [automobile] Boneyard trip last week (yes, I will be posting photos, but not today) I wore a very old pair of boots. They were hiking boots, but I used them as winter boots, even into last winter.

Well, because it had rained for the whole day previous to our visit, I expected the fields to be wet (they weren't very), I decided to wear the boots. I noticed no problem until I got back to the car and decided to put on my normal footwear. The boots were absolutely falling apart – both of them.

That's the second time that this has happened to me. On the other occasion many years past, I had spotted a pair of shoes that I had forgotten about in the basement. They were good shoes that I had liked, so I wore them to school (teaching) the next day. They completely fell apart, and I ended the day walking around school in my socks. Thanks goodness I hadn't yet developed bone spurs (plantar fasciitis) at that point. Now I seldom walk anywhere, even in the house, without some sort of footwear to cushion those spurs.

Not to worry about the loss of the boots, for I had purchased a new pair last winter.