July | 2026 | River's world…..

Every spring Maine has a pollen problem. The trees explode with new growth and yellow powder covers everything. And since winter hung on a little longer this year? The pollen season has stretched into summer.

This was I-295 southbound a week ago.

Not fog. Not smog….

Pollen. Choking the air.

Makes me glad I don’t have allergies.

It’s rare, but woodchucks do climb trees. As evidenced by this photo I took of a youngster checking out our apple tree branch.

Even rarer?

Capturing a picture of the young woodchuck kamikaze diving off said branch.

He was fine and wandered off shortly after the drop.

😳

Warning – little bit of grossness ahead.

I bought a rotisserie chicken for a chicken and dumpling casserole recipe the other day. But as I started carving it?

Eewww …

I can honestly say I’ve never seen whatever the hell this was before.

A big blood spot on the breast and something disgusting that looked like pumpernickel bread in the meat.

What the hell!

Was it an infection? A tumor?

Either way, it was disgusting and completely off putting.

Needless to say we ordered pizza that night.

🤢

After more than four months of painfully waiting for an orthopedic appointment, I finally jumped the first hurdle on the path to knee replacement. (Not literally, because I can barely crouch to tie my damn shoes no less jump over something… but you get the idea.)

Hurdle #1 – see the physician assistant orthopedist. Gatekeeper to the great and powerful actual orthopedic surgeon.

My husband insisted on going with me to the doctor’s office this time. He never has before, but he’s been dealing with the fallout ( and yes, the incessant whining ) from my bad knee for the last 6 years as well and wanted to hear the diagnosis/plan first hand.

The ortho PA was great. Friendly but no nonsense, and after a battery of X-rays and an exam he said I was a good candidate for partial knee replacement.

At this point my husband asked me to stand up and face away from the PA.

Huh?

I did and then felt my husband touch the back of my bad knee and ask the PA why it looks like that.

Like what? He never told me anything looked weird… and I certainly can’t see it!

The PA said it looked crooked because basically the inside of my right knee had collapsed. Which makes me wonder how long I’ve looked freaky every time I wear shorts and why my beloved spouse never thought to mention it.

😡

Anyway, the PA set me up with an appointment with the surgeon (the good one I wanted from the beginning, so yay to that) for early August. He’s hoping they can schedule surgery quickly because I’m otherwise healthy and have no major medical problems … though I do have to get written clearance from a dentist and my primary before they’ll cut. Can you spell liability?

In case you’re interested in the medical gobbledegook? These were my official results.

There was also this:

“Significant narrowing of the right medial compartment with sclerotic change evident on both the medial femoral condyle and the medial tibial plateau”

Whatever the hell that means.

All I know is I’m bone on bone on the inside of my right knee and it’s hella painful. Surgery is going to suck but my mobility is so limited right now I really don’t care.

Bring on the knife.