Category Archives: Health & Fitness

Time to Wake Up

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How do twelve people sleeping under the same roof for the holiday weekend wake up? Well, at Mother’s summer house we all were roused from slumber by the beautiful chimes of her grandfather clock at 7:15 this morning.

Mother and my wife were already in the kitchen frying up 6 pounds of bacon, scrambling 3 dozen eggs, and setting up a huge self serve waffle bar. At 7:30 it is already 76 degrees, so we menfolks are heading out to the deck for a seat to sip coffee and let the kids get their plates fixed up.

My brother actually asked why the grandfather clock only woke him up at 7:00 and not through the night. Mother has placed the grandfather clock in her foyer, on the narrow wall fronting the hallway to the first floor guest bedroom and her master bedroom. Those two rooms hear it the loudest.

Full House

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Well, Mother’s summer house is chock full of people this weekend. My brother arrived with his family early this morning and combined with my offspring there are 6 kids running through the house having a blast and 6 adults trying to talk amongst themselves and keep some semblance of order.

After a big breakfast we all put on bathing suits and grabbed our beach stuff and it took four boatloads full of people to get everyone over to the island. The weather was perfect all day – warm and a slight breeze. We spend hours combing the sand for sharks teeth and sea shells, and Mother had packed two coolers with sandwiches, chips, cookies and soft drinks, so we had a feast on the blankets while we waved at all the other boats zipping by.

When everyone had enough sun we started sending boatloads back to the house. Now we’re in the middle of fixing hot dogs and burgers on the grill while the kids are down on the dock trying to net a few crabs and sharing stories. It’s been a really nice day for all of us and its great to have the families together.

Unofficial Start of Summer

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One of my favorite holidays has always been Memorial Day, which in many parts of the country not only honors our veterans but also signifies the unofficial start of summer.

In our house, Memorial Day means taking the kids to a parade and then at least one full day on the water. which water was the question, as we were fortunate to have many water choices, with bountiful lakes and rivers close by and the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean just a short drive away.

The past couple years we’ve chosen to join my parents at their home on the river. Their summer house has plenty of extra beds and linens, and the boat dock has a variety of boats, from a kayak to a ski boat to a john boat to a sailboat. And this year my brother towed his 30′ cruiser to the public ramp and put it in for the guys to go fishing on Sunday.

Knowing that he was coming with the cruiser, I bought a special gift for him – or rather, his boat. I remember last year how we had taken the cruiser down the river one weekend and just slept on it over night with the intention of waking early and throwing in the fishing lines at daybreak. Well, it was a great plan but when we woke there was so much fog that we couldn’t see anything for hours and to be honest it was downright frightening to be out on the open water unable to see more than a foot or two in front of the boat.

Allergies

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This spring has brought so much rain and such a quick increase in temperatures that everyone seems to be having trouble with allergies this year.

I’ve tried a series of over the counter allergy medications and nothing seems to work for me. The pharmacist tells me that most of the allergy formulas have been changed to fight the drug abusers, and that the “good stuff” is not sold over the counter any more. That really blows – why should I have to go see a doctor and get a prescription for something that I used to be able to buy at will, as needed, on my own just because some lowlife trash wants to cook up batches of methadone and kill themselves off?

So I did go see the doctor for a $75 office visit fee and then bought a prescription allergy medication for $30 and spent $105 and two hours of my life to get a box of pills that should have cost $10 and taken 10 minutes to pick up from the local drug store.

Free Antibiotics at Publix

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Sometimes you just can’t fight off an infection on your own and you need to drag yourself down to the doctor and get a prescription. This is a last resort for those of us with no medical insurance. Going to the doctor is not something you can afford to do unless it is a serious condition and you must have a prescription to get healthy.

Thank goodness for Publix grocery stores providing free antibiotics at their pharmacies. Of course, while you are waiting the 15-20 minutes for them to fill your prescription they are banking on you shopping for groceries in their store, so it’s a form of a loss leader for them. And it mostly worked in my case – I spent the 20 minutes of wait time walking the aisles, picking up sale items and Publix branded generics that were a good price.

So my free prescription actually cost me about $70. But I get to eat the benefits and I’ll be healthy again in 10 days or less. So, thank you, Publix.