Tuesday was a lazy day. The weather was beautiful – the temperature hit 76 without a cloud in the sky. I went for a walk, then I set up a chair under the awning and read. I’m reading City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. It was published in 2005. It’s a non-fiction description of the fire that destroyed the Fenice Opera House in Venice, Italy in 1996. It’s really well-written and the story grabbed me.

Yesterday, I started my day early. I had an alarm set for 7am. I haven’t used an alarm for a while. I slept fitfully all night. The pollen counts here are high. I have severe pollen allergies. When the pollen count is high I often sleep poorly. Anyway, the reason for my early wake-up was a dental appointment. I had a 7:50am appointment for a check-up and cleaning.

My original appointment was at 8:40am. The dental office called on Monday and asked to move my appointment earlier. I don’t know why I agreed – I’m retired and have no need for an early morning apointment! The check-up revealed a small cavity under a gold onlay. The fix for that is to remove the onlay and replace it with a crown. Cavities were a rare issue for me until I had head and neck radiation treatment in 2002. The radiation damages the tooth enamel and that’s when problems start. The radiation also affects saliva production, which also promotes tooth decay. I try to be diligent in my tooth and mouth care, but it seems like it’s a losing battle. I’ve had a lot of work done over the past six or seven years.

After a poor night’s rest and early dental appointment, I decided another lazy day was in order. I didn’t post to the blog.  The afternoon was warm with the temperature rising to 80 degrees. I put the awning out and sat outside to read.

Later, I pulled my Gibson ES-339 out of the basement and set up my amp-stand. I haven’t played guitar in weeks. I played for about 40 minutes. I need to put new strings on the guitar. Maybe that’s a task for today.

There was another thing on my mind. In our bedroom, between the side of the bed and the wardrobe, I found a strange seam in the carpet.

Seam in carpet

I thought this was curious. When I looked closely, I found a tag next to the bed. Pulling on the tag, a 20″ by 14″ panel came up. It was heat shielded on the bottom.  Below the panel was a metal plate.

Heat shielding and plate under carpet panel

Now I wanted to know what this mystery panel was for. The metal plate was held in place by four screws with #2 square drive heads. I put a #2SD driver in my electric screw driver and removed the panel. It revealed the rear of the engine and transmission bell housing. I don’t think you would ever need this access unless something catastrophic occurred. It would be most helpful if you had to remove the exhaust manifold, the turbocharger or the complete engine. My curiosity was satisfied. Good-to-know information, but I hope I never need to use this access.

Access to rear of engine

Andy King, my friend going all the way back to junior high school days, stopped by at 4:30pm. I haven’t seen Andy in a long time. I think we figured it to be 36 years. The funny thing is, he was living in Gold Canyon, just a dozen miles or so from our old house in Mesa when Donna and I lived in Arizona. Neither of us used Facebook back then and we were out of touch with each other. We only connected recently with Facebook.

I gave him the nickel tour of our place, then he drove us to the Handlebar Grill and Pub in Apache Junction. This place is very unassuming. It’s on Apache Trail (Main Street) near Ironwood. From the street it looks like a dusty dive bar. It isn’t. There’s a nice outdoor patio and inside, the tables are covered with table cloths. The service is great and they cook a lot of their food over a wood-fired grill. They also have a great selection of beer on tap.

Andy’s wife, coincidentally also named Donna, joined us there. We had a great time enjoying the company, burgers and beer. The two Donnas split a bottle of wine. Entertainment was provided by The String ‘Em Up Band – a local bluegrass band. Andy was a regular member of this band, but now he sits in occasionally. He broke out his Fishook Dobro and joined the band for their second and third set.

Andy and I flanked by our Donnas

Andy takes center stage

It was a fun-filled night. Andy drove us back to Apache Wells a little after 9pm. We plan to get together again soon.

Today, the weather is forecast to continue the warming trend. We should see a high of over 80 degrees today and near 90 by Saturday. Maybe it’s time for me to hit the pool. But hey, it’s a dry heat. It’s not hot here until the thermometer hits 110 degrees Fahrenheit.