Thoughts during the apocalypse, Part 29.

No, I haven't disappeared. I'm still hanging in there on the keyboard.

The question was a valid one.

"Where the f*** have you been???"

I guess I'm glad to have been missed. I had not posted since Thursday, and I am usually a very active poster. So, an explanation is due.

No, I'm not sick. At least not coronavirus-sick.

I've been mostly around here, following my usual pattern for the pandemic. There were a few trips involved.

On Friday, I took my weekly trip up to Boston for my take-out food from Jen Royle's restaurant in the North End. There's a lot more traffic heading north and south these days, but Jen's food is worth it. I revisited the short rib Bolognese this week, and it provided me with two dinner-sized portions for Friday night and Saturday night -- including the tasty fresh-baked bread and a little surprise that Jen often adds to the bag. And I ordered two huge meatballs as well and added them to my Sunday-night pasta meal.

For her financial sake, I hope Jen can return soon to her business as usual. But her takeout menu has been a big hit during difficult times, and I, for one, will miss it.

I have the tools and the talent.

Then on Saturday, I went to the Cape to help my friend, Alex, work on his vacation home that had been rented out to winter tenants. Although my left knee has been bothering me a lot in recent weeks, my job was to trim very high hedges near his deck -- normally not easy when you're using a set of hand-held clippers. But I have a new attachment for my Ryobi power tool, a jumbo-sized hedge clipper (to go along with the weed-whacker and the leaf blower).

When all in one piece, the tool is heavier than normal clippers. But the long blade extension and the length of the power unit itself make for easy clipping of tall shrubs. Despite the uneven terrain beneath my feet that sent occasional waves of pain through my left knee, I think I did a pretty good job of trimming the hedge.

Trust me, it will look better when the hedge grows back in.

Weather forecasts at the time were not promising for the start of the week, so I decided to move up my home mowing to Sunday. As it turned out, the forecasts didn't pan out and the weather has been good here, but the grass really needed it.

The increase in knee soreness made the front yard a harder task than usual, as did the need to empty the clippings bag twice (usually needed only once for the front). But my backyard has its own pitfalls -- and one got me.

The backyard is about an eighth of an acre and it's basically flat, with a few rolling knolls here and there that aren't a surprise. But there are a few spots where the terrain has become unpredictable because of frost heaves that have not subsided, or old stumps or bushes that have died and left remnants that can cause stumbles. One of those caught me by surprise near the fence that borders the former shoreline of Fulton Pond, I tripped on it, started to fall, and I didn't immediately let go of either the throttle bar that propels the mower, or the control for the self-propelled wheels. So it raced ahead and collided with the fence as I fell to the ground -- but I was very fortunate, in that as soon as I released the bar, the engine cut out. The mower bounced up and landed wheels down close to my head, which was a scare in itself.

Wrapping in ice just isn't cutting it anymore.

There was no real damage to anything except my knee, which did not appreciate being driven down into the ground in an uncontrolled fashion. It took me a while to roll over on my stomach and force myself up in a reverse-pushup manner with both legs fully extended and rigid. Otherwise, any motion of the knee would have dropped me to the ground again. And the worst thing? I still had a third of the lawn to finish. So after a while to get my wits about me, I hobbled my way through the remaining mowing and went right for the ice packs when I made it inside around 7 p.m.

After a night of fitful sleep, I spent most of Monday packing up commemorative coffee mugs for the guests that have appeared on my podcast, "The Owner's Box." I've shown them before; they're pretty cool. And while it was a chore to get in and out of the car, I did get the boxes in the mail, and as I write this, all four have already been delivered. More to come, of course.

Today, I didn't do much but sit all day. I recorded a podcast at noon (more on that to come later this week), and then appeared on a video-conferencing version of a recurring show on North Attleboro Community Television (you know, North TV, the people that employ me to do football and basketball telecasts) called "Up for Discussion," It's our quarterly "sports" edition and I thought it went pretty well, but my knee was killing me from three straight hours of sitting in place at the mixing board. And right now, six hours later, I have to get up from this desk and walk away every paragraph or so just to calm the throbbing.

I know. Complain, complain, complain. So why aren't I doing something about it? Well, because I'm still afraid to go anywhere near a medical facility even as it seems (inaccurately, I bet) as if the pandemic is winding down. If it's still bad about the time I have to mow again, I will send a message to my primary care provider and ask for some alternatives in regard to examination. I surely would not be looking forward to any lengthy idling in the weeks to come -- my lawn would be a jungle within three weeks -- but this is the worst my knee has been since I hurt it in college 46 years ago.

I know this too. A lot of people have it a lot worse. So I promise, I'll stop complaining -- at least publicly. Let it also be known that I appreciate the kind words and advice I've received in recent days. Now it's time to press on.

I had more to say tonight, including some thoughts on the plan to gradually re-open our state, but I'm going to hit the rack a little early instead. Cheers, everyone, and stay safe.