7/13/2026

 Monday, July 13, 2026

1949 Pope Pius XII excommunicated communist Catholics

1960 US Democratic convention nominated Catholic JFK for the presidency

1967 Riots broke out in Newark, New Jersey; 27 died

2018 Outline of a 5,000-year-old henge was discovered at Newgrange, Ireland, through drought and drone footage

2024 Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in rural Butler, Pennsylvania

2025   Israeli strikes kill at least 30 people, including six children, at a water collection zone, bringing the official death toll in Gaza to over 58,000

2025   The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Donald Trump's second bid to overturn the civil ruling of Carroll II (2022)

In bed at 9, up at 6:30; 0645 134/79/64 116 204,0;78/89/66, sunny.  I had a bad pain night, right flank, bottom of rib cage, neck, even a toe on my left foot, plus I passed hardly any urine during the night.  After taking my 'vitals,' I stayed on the recliner and slept sitting up until 8:20 when Geri came in to check on me.   

Morning meds at 9:30 a.m., and Eliquis at 8:40 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Semi-lost day.  Last night's semi-sleepless & painful night impacted my day.  I've been a little out of sorts and brain foggy all day.  I did take a trip out to La-Z Boy in Wauwatosa and purchased a replacement recliner to replace my Barcalounger, which is too big for my shrinking body and, I think, is contributing to my right-side flank pain.  On the way home, I stopped at the Whitefish Bay Library and checked out a copy of Elizabeth Strout's Tell Me Everything, which is the fifth and last novel in her Lucy Barton series, the others of which I've read already.

I bought the new recliner because I suspect, but without much conviction, that the Barcalounger is contributing to the recurring and often persistent pain on the right side of my torso.  That pain is worse when I sit on the Barcalounger and better when I sit on the La-Z-Boy in my bedroom, which was built for a guy my height.  Hence, my hope is for a health and lifestyle benefit, but I won't be surprised if the hope is in vain.  The one they have in stock is gray, and it would be a six-week wait to get one in a brownish color to go with the color scheme in the TV room, so I went with the gray, knowing Geri would be displeased, as she was.  Two thoughts motivated my choice.  First, another 6 weeks of pain, and second, I could die in the next 6 weeks (or 6 days or 6 hours). It wasn't very rational thinking, but, as I wrote above, I've been a bit brain foggy today.  The possibility of near-term death is never very far from me, and it's been closer since I developed heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia conditions.  On71, 7 top of that came the month-long coverage of Mitch McConnell's mysterious hospitalization at 84 (my age) and Lindsey Graham's death at 71, reminding me of how old I am.