Ponderous thoughts I was pondering (Part 2) ...

Ponderous thoughts I was pondering before I gave up on finding a comfortable typing position yesterday:

** Hello again. As promised, I have more thoughts to share -- not the least of which is the good news that an appointment has been made to see an orthopedic surgeon next Thursday and start the process of getting this injured knee back whole.

But first, an explanation of yesterday's interruption.

Bitburger beer, my antidote for leg pain.

I really wanted to sit at the computer and type, but the angle at which the injured left knee was resting was a problem -- not as much for the knee itself, but for the fluid buildup lower in the leg for which I'm undergoing treatment. The situation is improving, but it's still painful and that makes it difficult to sit and type, or to record a podcast, and so on.

Movement does help to some extent, however -- and so not long after I stopped typing, I headed out for some shopping -- and one stop was at the local boutique liquor store over at Mansfield Crossing for a brand of beer I figured they'd have when others locally would not.

I was correct. They had Bitburger, a brand of imported German beer that's very popular in the western part of that country and in much of the rest of Europe, and is now starting to get a little exposure in the US market.

Understand, I'm not a big beer drinker. I'm not US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. I like beer, but I'm not going to become an obnoxious asshole and potential sex offender because of it. I drank a lot more of it in college and up to about my 40s, but I've cut down my alcohol intake a lot in the last two decades for no particular reason other than maybe I outgrew it.

But when I do drink beer, I drink Dos Equis … er, no. While I may be the most interesting man on earth, my preferences run to the crisp, clean tastes of beers from Germany or Holland. I want something that tastes very refreshing when ice cold but can hold its taste when it grows a little warmer. I don't chug.

So, I had heard about Bitburger while watching a movie, and I will try to provide a clip of that here. It's from "X-Men: First Class," the re-imagined origin story of the Marvel Comics mutant superhero team. The scene is when Michael Fassbender, as the master of magnetism Magneto, goes to Argentina in search of the German scientist that first discovered his power and terrorized him to bring it to the surface. He walks into a bar and orders a glass of beer, while nearby, two men notice what the newcomer has ordered and make note of his preference for German beer -- in this case, Bitburger. One askes if Fassbender likes it, and after a long sip, he responds, "The best." Then Magneto uncovers that they are both expatriate Nazis and he kills them.

So I looked up Bitburger and discovered it was, indeed, a real beer. And a friend of mine that has spent a lot of time in Germany confirmed that Bitburger was a palatable beverage. So I found some, chilled it and tapped into it as my left leg continued to ache.

I am pleased to report that after three 500 ml cans of Bit (the slogan on the can is "Bitte ein Bit," which is, I assume, means "A Bit, please."), I was feeling no pain. And since I was not going anywhere, why not? My doctors might not be pleased with my choice of painkiller, but I was -- and I can guarantee you that three beers is not going to send me down the long and winding road toward alcoholism at age 66.

Although … I have cracked open another one this afternoon. It's good stuff. Not overly heavy, smooth and full-bodied … like me!

Here's that clip (sorry about the pop-ups and ads and whatnot:) ...


** I have also arranged for mowing of my lawn while I am incapacitated. My thanks to the folks from Guerrini Landscape Inc. in Mansfield, who handle the big jobs for me at the beginning and end of the growing season, for the quick response to my situation -- although, sadly, it also coincides with a dry stretch here in Massachusetts that has turned my otherwise lush lawn a prematurely crunchy brown.

Yard and knee, both on the disabled list.

We really need some rain around here, and I figured out when it's going to happen -- somewhere in the middle of July, when I am supposed to be "on vacation" -- although in retirement, every day is a vacation of sorts. But that's just how things have been going in 2020.

I do wish I could get out there with trimmers and weed whackers. The overgrowth from the pond and other unwanted weeds have overtaken my capacity to deal with them at this point. They should have been addressed last month, and as this knee situation basically began in April, that was the opportunity for the unwanted vines and weeds to gain a foothold.

Ah, homeownership.

** The Bitburger is doing its job, but I still think I will retire to the living room to continue the Battlestar Galactica marathon (yes, I am a big nerd sometimes). The outdoor thermometer is registering 101 degrees, which is probably a little high given that the sensor gets direct sunlight after noon. But it's still brutally hot out there and there's no shade -- at least until I clean off one park bench in the backyard that my parents bought a long time ago and needs to have two decades' worth of lichens scraped off it. A task for later.

Cheers to all. Talk to you soon, and don't forget to listen to Episode 25 of "The Owner's Box," featuring my old friend Paul Souza and his successful battle with COVID-19. We'll have more podcasts down the road at some point, I promise.