I dodged a bullet. While spending part of the summer in Maggie Valley, NC, I became fatigued about noon every day; not to worry, I’m getting older. This condition continued through September and early October. On Saturday, October 10, I began to have some tightness in the upper chest/lower throat area, similar to that experienced in mid-July 1914 before I had a mild heart attack and to that in early November when diagnosed with reflux. Consequently, I thought reflux issues had resurfaced—except that neither over-the-counter nor prescription medicine relieved the symptoms. Finally, on Monday, I called the cardiologist’s office and got an appointment for mid-morning; he prescribed a chemical stress test. So, on Wednesday morning, I undertook the chemical stress test. At the follow-up appointment, Dr. Jeffrey Tauth, the cardiologist, said I flunked the stress test, and scheduled an angiogram for today. During the angiogram, he inserted two stents, one of which was to replace a stent inserted in July 2014. Now, I have 3 stents in the “widow maker.” It’s time to do some serious dieting, begin a regimented exercise program, and modify my lifestyle.

Kay had a slow day today, unusual for her, with only a manicure and pedicure scheduled.

With an impending angiogram and possible stents, I wanted to make photographs today. Arkansas, the “Natural” state, is blessed with an abundance of natural areas. And, some of these areas are ecologically significant; rare plants, animals, and natural communities are found within their bounds. The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC) focuses on science-based conservation to protect these ecologically significant areas. Where we live, on the east side of Hot Springs Village in Saline County, there are four of these areas: Middle Fork Barrens, Alum Fork, Mills Park, and Lorance Creek. Dan Olson and I had visited two of these, Middle Fork Barrens and Alum Fork, chasing butterflies, dragonflies, and wildflowers. Today, we opted to visit the other two.

Lorance Creek Natural Area is primarily a shallow, groundwater-fed swamp that spreads out along both sides of Lorance Creek. The natural area is situated at the transition zone between the sandy uplands of the Coastal Plain and the flat lowlands of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and includes examples of each. With few insects flying about, today’s photos focus on mushrooms and leaves. Fall colors in central Arkansas are near their peak intensity, somewhat subdued by the long drought experienced the last few weeks.

NOTE: Click on each photograph for an enlarged view.

Even “beauty and the beast” were observed in the forest.

Located in the City of Bryant, Arkansas, Mills Park Natural Area is a unique example of an urban natural area. This 10-acre tract, within an 80-acre park complex, harbors acidic wooded seeps and represents the once extensive forests that occurred across the Coastal Plain.

The dead and the living both signaled the changing seasons.

Continuing the theme of mushrooms and leaves, Mills Park offered a variety of each. It’s amazing how many variations of mushrooms appear in nature—and, I have only touched the surface.

If only leaves could tell their story…

Tuesday was a quiet day as I hung around the house doing a bunch of nothing. Kay had an early morning dental appointment where she was “fitted” for a couple of tooth implants; it’s been a year now since the implant process began. Afterwards, she attended a HSV Lady Duffers board meeting. The HSV Lady Duffers is a ladies’ nine hole golf league. They play golf each Wednesday morning from April through October, normally at Coronado Golf Course. Their focus is on friendship and camaraderie, along with enjoying the game of golf.

Wednesday was supposed to have been a busy day, particularly for Kay. She began with an early golf match as part of the HSV Lady Duffers while I had a follow-up visit with the cardiologist after a chemical stress test last week. Dr. Tauth came into the exam room, sat down, and said I didn’t do well on the stress test! He scheduled an angiogram for Friday. I went to CHI St. Vincent in Hot Springs for pre-surgery bloodwork and paperwork, and didn’t return home until after noon.

That sort of took the wind out of our sails for the rest of the day. To gain some peace and to try to relax, I drove to Cedar Creek Trail in the Village for hiking and making photos, leaving Kay to take a much needed nap. Trail conditions were DRY, as we have not had rain in several weeks. However, the trail did offer up a few opportunities for fall photos. What a BUMMER day.

The following photos have been put into a gallery; just click on a photo for a larger look.

Rain was in our forecast at Hot Springs Village for much of the day, and in checking, western Arkansas was scheduled to be free of rain and partly sunny. With nothing on either of our schedules, she suggested we visit Queen Wilhelmina State Park since neither of us had ever been there. Kay packed sandwiches and drinks, and after a late start, we drove south and west through Hot Springs, and then west along US Highway 270. Much of the route was south of Lake Ouachita and in Ouachita National Forest; it was a trip I’ve been wanting to take for a long time! 

Our first stop was at a US Forest Service Ranger Station; Kay asked about day hikes and primitive camping, and received great information from the staff. They did have a policy of only one set of guests in the office at a time, but they made an effort to come onto the porch and speak with her before she went in, waiting on another couple to finish.

From there we drove to the state park, only to be shrouded in heavy fog about half way up the mountain. Visibility was less than a hundred feet! Obviously, there were no views to be had, and it didn’t make sense to do any hiking. After driving around the park, we drove back down the mountain, and made at least one photo where the fog had partially lifted.

Enroute home, we stopped at Hickory Nut Mountain Campground, a US Forest Service site recommended by the ranger. It was indeed beautiful. We opted to hike a short trail up the mountain to where a fire tower had been, photographing several things along the trail. We do enjoy day trips.

I had to get out of the house and away from Hot Springs Village. Kay was scheduled to spend the afternoon at the casino, so Dan Olson and I went to Camp Robinson Special Use Area. Dog trainers were everywhere, and with their compressed air “duck dummy” canons, occupied most of the area. Dan made a few photos, and I kept busy making, and trying to make, adjustment to the camera. (NOTE: The shutter locked on 10-second delay self-timer when in manual mode. After living with it for the day, internet search revealed it is not an uncommon problem and the solution was to reset the camera. It worked, and no other settings were lost!)

We finally gave up on Camp Robinson, and drove to William Kirsch Preserve in Little Rock. Overcast skies made for a good photo-making day. A few late season wildflowers were blooming, an occasional butterfly flittered about, and grasshoppers were everywhere. Tree leaves had just begun changing colors. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Kay and I played bridge with the Morrises tonight. Once again, Kay dominated the scoring with Jackie coming in a close second. We all were dealt strange hands most of the evening, and I had several with fewer than 6 points. Poor Jim had feast or famine hands, and most were famine. 

Fatigue from Covid-19 has finally arrived. While there are many chores to be done and tasks performed, a high degree of sameness surrounds us in our everyday life. Social networking is definitely out, so we only do social activities with a very select number of friends and family. When will this ever end?

I finally managed to get a haircut Thursday; that was the highlight of the day. Kay enjoyed golf with her ladies group on Friday.

Saturday, I finally got back to working on the Briefcase Solar System. Holes were cut on the left side of the briefcase for Anderson connectors, and the connectors were epoxied in place. See photos below.

10AWG wire was attached to the Anderson connectors on the inside of the briefcase. One set will be from the solar panels to the charge controller, and the other set will be from the charge controller to a battery bank, including an inline breaker.

One of the many things I detest about being old is all the medical appointments one has to attend. Of course, if one had taken better care of himself, he would not have so many appointments. Today, it was back to the cardiologist for a chemical stress test. This means no caffeine for the last 24 hours, and combined with the slow-release nitroglycerin, I had had a severe headache for the last couple of days. I was first injected with some nuclear chemical, and after waiting, a number of photographs were made of the heart. And then, I was injected with another chemical to “speed up” the heart to the point of stressing it. I was short of breath for a few seconds, and had a slight feeling of compression in the heart area for a few seconds, and otherwise, no ill affects. I was then allowed to have caffeine, and since Kay had pre-positioned a cup of black coffee in the car, I gulped it down. We drove to McDonald’s for a late breakfast, and a convenience store for Diet Mountain Dew, supposedly loaded with caffeine. And then it was back to the cardiology clinic for more waiting. Finally, a few more photographs were made of the heart, and I was released. No calls were received in the afternoon, so apparently nothing showed up in the stress test.

No progress was made on the Briefcase Solar System today. However, in addition to designing and building it, I purchased a Rockpals 250-watt Portable Generator Rechargeable Lithium Battery Pack Solar Generator to allow use of a CPAP when without AC power. The lack of being able to operate the CPAP has been a major impediment to primitive camping. Because the lithium battery pack does not have a 12 volt cigarette lighter receptacle, I bought a 12V Power Supply cable for CPAP machine so that it could be hooked up, basically a plug and chug! and the Rockpals lithium power station can be charged with the solar system!

Kay and I played pickle ball in the evening with the Paddle Wheelers. Kay continues to improve and there we’re several good volleys during the matches. Serving seems to be an Achilles heal for her. Afterwards, we enjoyed a “socially distanced” happy hour on the parking lot of Waypoint Marina. We live such a blessed life.

October is birthday month for our immediate family with birthdays October 6, 13, 16, and 21. Forty years ago today, my baby, Jennifer Ann Dunn, was born in rural New Orleans, LA—it was one of the happiest days of my life. At the time I was a member of the Engineering Department faculty at the University of New Orleans. Scheduled to give a test that evening, Jenny’s mother’s water broke and I hurriedly asked good friend, Joey Dykes, to proctor the test. We rushed to the hospital, and Jenny was born later that evening. Happy birthday, Jenny.

I played in a golf scramble midday with a group from church, with more good shops than bad. Our team tied for first, but lost in the draw after the matches. Kay had a “cut and color” in the late afternoon, and I continued working on the 200-watt briefcase solar system.

Upper chest and lower throat tightening continued Sunday night and into the early morning Monday. I called the cardiology office, and they were able to see me at 10:30AM. Upon arrival, they checked blood pressure and did and EKG. Dr. Tauth reviewed it, listened to my heart, and advised that he could not detect a problem at that time, but ordered a chemical stress test for Wednesday, October 14. He wrote a prescription for time release nitroglycerin. As a result of the morning visit, I canceled the golf game in the afternoon. 

Our toad (vehicle we tow behind the motorhome) had been serving as the repository for items to be taken back to the RV such as lawn chairs, tables, bed linens, auxiliary brake, etc. It had become so full that time had come to drive the items to the storage garage. I added a garden rake, and Kay and I took the items to the RV storage facility. I backed the motorhome out of the garage, and while Kay unloaded the car, I worked smoothing the 6-inch ruts in the soft gravel serving as the garage floor. My heart must be okay since there were no issues while raking.

I played golf Thursday afternoon at Coronado, walking all 18 holes. Oscar, the name of the remote controlled, robotic smart golf cart I use makes it pretty easy to walk. And Coronado is a short executive golf course, though quite challenging.

I really want, and need, to take more photographs, but seem to have all sorts of excuses. I am anxiously awaiting birds migrating into or through our area. I did get a bit of a photo fix on Friday as Dan Olson and I patiently worked on his computers to find lost edits of photos from his and Pat’s trip to China last fall. The edits were lost when migrating the photos from an external hard drive to a MacBook Pro, and then to an iMac with external drive. Gratefully, we were able to find all the edits, and he made some amazing photos on the trip.

Work on a new project, a portable 200-watt briefcase solar system (BCS), will initiate soon. This is to be a slow, deliberate process, something somewhat unfamiliar to me as I usually charge ahead, flying by the seat of my pants! The BCS will facilitate boondocking and/or primitive camping, where I must have electricity (either AC or DC) to run the CPAP. Of course, if in the motorhome, the generator could run all night, but it is loud. And, the battery bank must be recharged daily if not using the generator but rather using the battery bank and inverter.. And, anyway, I wanted a project to work on. Great friend, Wayne Bodenhamer, has been working with solar for many years, and he and I would talk solar for hours at a time. Thus, with the boredomness of Covid-19, a great opportunity to build a solar system emerged. I probably went about this the wrong way, but below are the items purchased towards completing the system.

• 2-HQST 100 watt Monocrystalline Solar Panels 
• Epever MPPt 20A 12V Solar Charge Controller 
• 30-foot 10AWG Solar Extension Cable 
• Solar Panel Adapter Cable to DC 5.5\mm x 2.1mm 
• Y Branch Parallel Adapter Cable Wire Plug Tool Kit for solar panel 
• 25-feet red and 25-feet black 109 AWG wire 
• Anderson power pole connectors
• Ratcheting Crimper for Anderson-type power pole connectors 
• 20 Amp resettable fuse circuit breaker
• Self-sick square rubber bumper pads
• 3-inch long stainless steel hinges
• Stainless steel sheet metal screws

There are a couple of other items needed, including a stand(s) for the solar panel(s) (I will use scrap PVC pipe) and a couple of lugs to attach to the cable from the charge controller to the battery bank. 

Over the course of the weekend, I planned the briefcase setup of the BCS, and after much deliberation decided to used masonite with a foam foundation for the charge controller module. Thus, most of the weekend was spent gluing into the bottom of the briefcase the foam foundation using scrap foam from various package delivery containers, and developing a pattern and cutting the masonite to fit inside the briefcase on top of the foam foundation.

On Saturday morning, a slight tightening of my upper chest and throat occurred, and resembled the same symptoms I had before the mild heart attack in July 2014. However, similar symptoms occurred in November 2014 when I was diagnosed with reflux. Symptoms continued Sunday; Kay and I kept a careful watch and I opted not to go to the ER.