Sunday, July 20, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, quickly fell asleep, got up once 1am, again at 4am, couldn’t fall back asleep, finally sleeping from 6:30 to 7:30.

I took my shower, dressed and walked down to Mercado Madrid where I bought a medium-size carton of eggs for our breakfast.

The babies were left alone for about half an hour. The mother arrived just before 10am. Even with my headphones on I can hear when they arrive, those wings are powerful.

We left the apt at 10:45 and took a Didi to the Exposiciones metro station and there was a bus to El Retiro already there.

There was already a number of people on the bus as I followed Teresa to the back of the bus. There were two young men occupying the window seats, Teresa took the middle seat and I took the one to her left. A metro train must have just pulled into the station because soon a group got on the bus. The bus was nearly full when the guy to my left pulled out his cellphone and started playing something loud. I soon moved to Teresa’s other side.

It was a little after we left the station I figured out that today is July 20^th, Colombia’s Independence Day. A few people got off at Indiana Mall and before others got on, I moved a couple seats toward the front. The guy with the cellphone must have given up his seat to one of the elderly because next thing I know he’s standing right behind me. Every time the bus veered to the left he must have braced himself against my seat (with his cellphone in his right hand) as I heard the noise right next to my ear. Me occasionally putting my finger in my left ear didn’t faze him. As others got off the bus I moved toward the front until finally two seats became available and Teresa and I sat next to each other.

When we arrived in El Retiro we walked uphill the four blocks to Lomo Fino and were surprised there wasn’t a line and there were tables available. Teresa had their chicken breast and I their teriyaki steak. My steak was good but with so many mushrooms that I gave to Teresa. I also had a Coke and the check was 116,000 pesos ($28.88). When we left there was a line to get in.

We moved across the street to the plaza where we found some entertainment:

I got a little video of the first three groups but then I messed up and took photos instead of video:

We walked down the hill a block and Teresa found these inspirational purses in a store:

We stopped in El Retiro Café and were surprised to get a table. Teresa ordered a granizado but didn’t like it so she switched to a maltiada while I had a latte. I downloaded a note taking app called Easy Notes, to use until I can get KeepMyNotes moved from my old cellphone to my new one.  Later we each repeated our drink orders and shared a slice of apple cake with walnut pieces.

We left at 5pm, walked down to the bus station and got right on a bus back to Medellin. When traffic got backed up our driver pulled off onto what looked like a frontage road then took back streets finally joining Las Palmas just before San Diego Mall.

We got out at Exposiciones station and took a taxi back to Envigado. We got out at Tienda D1 and bought a few things before returning to the apt.

 

FUNNY

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, quickly fell asleep, got up once during the night, woke up at 4:30, couldn’t fall back asleep, finally getting up at 7:30.

About 9:15 I noticed the father pigeon was gone so I took this video; appears to be 2 babies, no?

I rested from 9:30 to 11am (not sure I slept) and during that time the black/blue/white pigeon returned and appears to be feeding the babies.

Teresa left at 12:30 to get her nails done.

Just before 4pm the large brown pigeon took its nesting turn. I’m guessing the larger brown pigeon is the male and the smaller black/blue/white pigeon is the female.

I tried using Samsung Smart Switch to just copy the apps from the old phone to the new phone but it still didn’t copy KeepMyNotes. I give up; maybe Alejandro can help me do that someday.

I finished watching the series Untamed and started watching season 2 of Quarterback on Netflix.

Well, I was originally planning on going to Viva Envigado today but Teresa wanted to go to El Tesoro in the afternoon. In the end we didn’t go anywhere and we don’t have eggs for breakfast tomorrow.

 

FUNNY

Friday, July 18, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, quickly fell asleep, got up once during the night, finally waking up at 6:30 and getting up at 7am.

I took my TENS 3000 machine to Chicago but never used it. I still haven’t used it since I got back but leaking has been minimal. We’ll see how it goes after my longer walk today and I start going back to the gym on Monday.

I left the apt at 8:30 and walked to Sao Paulo Plaza. Our usual table was taken but I found Glenn at a 2-top on the other side of the restaurant. His health is the same except for a small scar on the side of his nose. I thought it was from another skin cancer surgery but he said it was from rough play with Bianca. He believes Medellin may have finally exited from the rainy season. I gifted him the bag of 5 frozen bagels, 2 almond cookies and 1 small carabiner and he paid for my breakfast. I told him a lot about our Chicago vacation. I left at 11am and walked back to the apt. Some noticeable leaking.

This is the clearest photo I’ve gotten of the nest. It looks like 2 (opened) eggs but can’t tell if that’s 1 or 2 baby birds next to them.

I’m still struggling to copy my notes from Keep My Notes on my A52 cellphone to my A36. I’ve got a backup of the .kmnb file on my USB memory stick but I can’t import it to my A36.

I googled, “how do you tell a mother pigeon from a father pigeon” and (part) of Google’s answer, “both parents incubate the eggs, but the female typically does so overnight and into the morning, while the male takes over during the day.”

Today the pigeons switched places at 4:30pm.

At 6pm we took a Didi to Wilson’s Bocados Bar & Restaurante. I gave Wilson “saludos” from my brother and Teresa gave her mother the pair of Nikes we bought for her. MT thought they were a little tight, after Teresa assured me she was the same size and they should fit perfectly. Teresa told her she needs to try them on with socks. We all had the pork dinner and it was very good. We left at 9pm and returned to the apt by Didi.

 

FUNNY

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, quickly fell asleep, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 7:15.

I had 2 scrambled eggs with the remaining half of my onion bagel.

My calves are really tight but they loosened up during the morning.

I arrived at Daniel’s barbershop right at 9am but it was closed. I texted him and he arrived 10 minutes later and apologized for his lateness.

After my haircut I took a Didi to Todo Drogas where I purchased packages of: 1 Atorvastatina and 2 Zopiclona for the month for 114,000 pesos.

I walked to Ganso y Castor where I had a latte until about 11am. I stopped in Eduardo Madrid and bought a sleeve of 6 sesame seed bagels then stopped in Ara and bought Teresa 6 Granny Smith apples.

For lunch we finished our supper from last night plus some lentil soup Teresa made.

I received an email from the Illinois Tollway re: another payment of $15.80 that they charged to my USAA credit card. That should be the last of them.

I left at 1:30 and took a Didi to Torre Medica in El Tesoro. Dr. Rendon arrived right on time and we decided to gamble on the easier and cheaper option of a repair instead of going for the more time consuming and more expensive crown. It took about 45 minutes and cost 390,000 pesos (about $100).

I had a latte and slice of carrot cake in Valentina’s before returning to the apt by taxi.

I’m trying to copy my Keep My Notes files from my old A52 to my new A36 cellphones but it isn’t going well.

About 5pm the pigeon parents switched duties: one staying on the youngsters while the other goes for food. I can definitely see movement from at least one of the hatchlings. Still a long way (days? weeks?) from them being strong enough to fly.

Interesting that neither my car rental nor Airbnb rental payments have appeared on my credit card.

My daughter had another ultrasound and all is well. They said they can even see my granddaughter's hair. I knew that was coming, just not this early.

At 6:45 Teresa got off the phone with her mother and wanted to visit her at Wilson’s bar then have supper in McDonald’s. (I think MT is in a hurry to get her present, a new pair of Nike shoes.) I nixed that idea for tonight.

My calves are really tight again as I went to bed at 10pm.

 

FUNNY

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Well, it’s officially a new day as we were in our seats to take off. I think our flight was delayed because at least one passenger couldn’t find overhead bin space and had to check his carry-ons. A 2-year-old in the row in front of Teresa screamed for the entire take off and landing but was quiet throughout the entire flight. I took a sleeping pill but couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t stretch out. They served us chicken enchiladas on our flight which Teresa found too spicy (probably only in one bite) but was still challenging to eat with bamboo silverware in such a confined space.

We arrived on time, made a trip to the restroom, then she got in the Colombian line and I got in the line for seniors. We were both through in about 5 minutes. (The normal foreigner line wasn’t very long so they probably got through in 20-30 minutes.)

Outside we quickly caught a blue and white airport taxi to take us to our apt for 140,000 pesos.

When we arrived at the apt, Teresa asked the portero to turn out water and gas back on, I moved the 5 of the 6 bagels to the freezer, we used the bathroom and went to bed at 6am just as the sun was coming up. I fell asleep immediately and Teresa woke me just before noon.

We started unpacking and getting the apt back in order.

We found our balcony very dirty with bird excrement and we found we have a squatter:

For supper we ordered food delivered from Chiclayo, ate half and refrigerated the remainder for lunch tomorrow. I was relaxing on the recliner trying to finally get the piece of food out from between 2 teeth that has been bothering me for a week and a tooth broke. I text Dr. Rendon for an emergency appointment and he gave me 2pm tomorrow.

 

FUNNY

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, quickly fell asleep, woke up at midnight feeling overheated, fluffed the duvet, found a cool part of the bed and fell back asleep, finally waking/getting up at 8:15. Yeah, I know that was about 10 hours, but Teresa only got up a few minutes later.

I tried to check-in using the United website but kept coming back to “you haven’t been checked in”. I guess we’ll have to complete it at the airport; we’ll certainly have enough time for it.

We left the apt at 10am and had our last US breakfast in Kathie’s Kitchen. Teresa talked to the bus boy and learned he’s 40 years old (he doesn’t look that old) from Mexico and has been here 24 years without papers. Teresa had the avocado toast with 2 eggs medium and sausage patties and I two eggs over easy, hash browns with sausage links and an English muffin. We both had coffee for a total of $40.51 and I left a $6.30 tip. I paid for it with my credit card from our table. I asked the cashier and found they get a message when the bill is paid.

United oversold our flight and was taking bids around $450+ if you would move to another flight but I ignored it.

We stopped at a nearby gas station and I filled the Toyota Corolla with gas for $27.36.

I stopped in Walgreens to see if they had the pill container like mine that Teresa wants. They didn’t have it, will probably add it to my next Amazon order, but I bought a Chicago Sun-Times.

We returned to the apt for final packing. In some ways it’s easier this time because we just take everything that’s here. On the other hand, we’ve bought a few things that will take up space and add more weight.

We’re washing the clothes we considered dirty so everything packed will be clean and we won’t have to do laundry when we return to Envigado.

The plan is to leave here at 3pm and have soup in Omega. I was a little worried that my 5G plan might expire as I’m on the way to the car return place so I wrote down the address. We left the apt at 2:30 and decided to skip Omega. Waze guided me right to the car return location and it was just a matter of following signs from there. We dropped off the car and left the keys on the dashboard as instructed and headed for the airport train. We took it to Terminal 1 where I used a machine to print our luggage tags but I think I goofed and didn’t continue with the next step which should have been the boarding passes. After waiting in line, we checked our bags and then realized I hadn’t printed our boarding passes. A United worker at the machines completed the process for us. Back at the counter, our bags went through but I had no idea how much they weighed in at.

We went through a line that took us to immigration first, no problem there, then through the TSA check. I had to take out both computers and put them in a separate bin. Didn’t have to take off our shoes though so that was nice.

We had time to spare so we stopped at Rick Bayless’ Tortas Frontera in Concourse B where I ordered a guacamole salad and a Coke for Teresa and a Cuban sandwich and an iced tea for me for a total of $51.13. The whole process, ordering and receiving, took about 45-minutes but a table came available just as I was picking up our food. I liked my sandwich but Teresa found her salad too spicy (no surprise there from a Mexican restaurant even though I had them hold the jalapenos). I gave Teresa the other half of my sandwich and I finished most of her salad.

I received a message from T-Mobile that I’ve used my 5GB plan. (Talk about timing.)

We moved to Concourse C and found our gate with an hour to spare. We found a couple free chairs and collapsed in them. Teresa heard them call for Group 2 so we got in line. When they checked us in at the gate it turned out only Teresa’s boarding pass was for Group 2, mine was for Group 5 but because we were together they let us pass.

Our 3-hour flight left 10 minutes late but still arrived on time. This time we didn’t have to claim and recheck our bags in Houston we just had a long walk to another Concourse. We stopped at a self-purchase stand and bought, credit card only, a sandwich to share for $16.40. ☹

We still had an hour before our flight and found seats near the gate. This time when we got on, nothing was said about our boarding passes.

 

BURMA SHAVE

 

Monday, July 14, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 9:45, took a little while to fall asleep, got up once during the night (still dark out), finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

We left the apt at 8:30 and drove to Batter & Berries in Chicago where we met up with Jimmy. He’s been there before and had their Banana Belgian Waffle, I had their Blueberry French toast and Teresa had a Spinach Omelet. Jimmy gave me the okay to stay with him for a few nights in September when I see my granddaughter and I can drive him to school and borrow his car for the day. We gifted Jimmy a Caleb Williams #18 jersey, hoping he (Caleb) will be worthy of the purchase. We all had coffee and I paid the check of $75.12 in cash and left a $15 tip.

We said goodbye to Jimmy and drove to Corey’s NYC Bagel Deli on North Avenue and parked across the street in a strip mall parking lot. As we walked out of the parking area, I noticed a sign that said we would be towed. There was a Lululemon across the street so we stopped there and I asked about me parking across the street. They said I would get towed so better to move to their parking garage which I did. While Teresa continued looking around the store, I went across the street and bought 6 onion bagels for Glenn. (I was a little surprised how hard they are.) Back at Lululemon, in the end Teresa didn’t buy anything but I got my parking ticket validated, saving me $16.

It was a slow drive out of Chicago on the Kennedy Expressway that was out-bound under construction. We stopped in Oberweis again and shared a Banana Royale for $11.04.

Using ChatGPT I got some advice on what we can do in the airport between noon and our 7:30pm flight. In Terminal 1 we can stop at Tortas Frontera Concourse B near gate B11 for lunch then go to Beaudevin Wine Bar in Concourse C for coffee and/or dessert.

We returned to the apt and I called Budget and got permission to return the car between 3-4pm. I contacted our Airbnb host and got permission to check out later also. Now we can have a leisurely breakfast, fill-up the car with gas, finish packing, return the car, check our bags at United and have a late lunch before our flight.

Teresa received a phone call from the owner of our apartment in Envigado. The Administration (probably like a Home Owners Association) is raising his monthly fee so he wants to raise our rent from the current 2,486,531 pesos to 3,000,000 pesos. He likes us as renters because we always pay on time so he would like to keep us. I hear rents have gone up higher than that so I’m okay with paying that next year (I think it starts October 31^st). That’s like another $125 and my SS COLA the past two years covers that. We still should have money left over for travel.

I texted Innovation Corp. and asked them to release everything in my locker.

We left the apt at 6pm and drove to L. Woods in Lincolnwood where we met Jeannie & Jacob for supper. Jeannie has gotten noticeably bigger in the 4 weeks since we’ve seen her. She said she feels more movement inside and can’t imagine how she will look/feel in the remaining 2 months.

Jacob had fish & chips, Jeannie had the baked chicken and Teresa & I had the turkey plate which came with mashed potatoes, dressing, and green beans. The green beans were nothing special but everything else was delicious. We shared an order of peach blueberry cobbler topped with ice cream for dessert. I picked up the check of $147.65, plus $30 for tip.

I told Jeannie when I come in September for a visit, Jimmy gave me the okay to crash on his couch for a couple nights and I can borrow his car if I drive him to school first.

We said our goodbyes, returned to the apt and got ready for bed.

 

BURMA SHAVE