Missive #259

“In the Money is a sequel to White Mule, and the second volume in Dr. Williams’s “Stecher Trilogy,” but it also stands alone as a novel complete in itself. White Mule is a study of childhood—of the baby Flossie Stecher and her sister Lottie, and their parents, Joe and Gurlie Stecher, of German and Norwegian origin, living in New York before the first World War.This book was less about Flossie than the first book and more about Joe and Gurlie. A good read but not as good as the first book in the series. In the Money is Joe Stecher’s success story—the tale of his fight against graft and injustice to found his own business and get “into the money.” Joe is by nature quiet and reserved. But his wife Gurlie is full of ambition and drives him on toward the things she wants—position and a home of her own. It is a simple story, yet a meaningful one—a typical American situation. As a novelist, one of Dr. Williams’s strengths is his striking use of detail, an “objectivism,” related to the style of his poetry; which achieves great, even symbolic force in its enlargement of the minutiae of American life and character.” — Book promo @ books.google.com

My recovery from the teeth extractions on Tuesday is going well. I am taking Amoxicilina (Mexico spelling), an antibiotic, for a week. Took one 500 mg tablet of Acetaminophen (Tylenol) when the Novocaine started wearing off then one more tablet at midnight when I took Erik out to pee. Yesterday morning I ate my usual breakfast and ‘linner’ without any pain and only minor difficulty in not having any front teeth; where the molar was is sore but never got involved in my eating when it was there (no opposing molar).

Per singlecare.com the average cost of amoxicillin is $17 for 21 capsules, about 60 cents for each amoxicillin 500 mg capsule. I had the prescription filled at a Mexico pharmacy for 25¢ per capsule. If I had been able to get a prescription from the VA the copay price would have been between 33¢ and 67¢ depending on how many refills were needed.

I think Spring may have finally arrived — it was today, now we move on into Summer tomorrow. Tomorrow and through the weekend the high temperatures are forecast to be in the lower 80s then in the upper 70s and lower 80s for the entire 10 day forecast. I did see that the mesquite were starting to leaf out a few days ago which is a more sure sign that Spring and Summer are here than any weather forecast. I’ll now start complaining about the heat. HA