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There is even less to report on my inguinal hernia operation. There is no pain unless I poke the incision directly with my finger and I can even cough with very little pain. There is still swelling around the incision but that is totally ignored unless I’m looking in the mirror and jiggling the area, but even that is no Homer Simpson’s tummy jiggle at the doctor’s office, with Dr. Hibbert saying to his nurse, “Cancel my One o’clock appointment!” All the same, I should avoid contact sports like football and boxing for a couple of months.

The weather here in Bend, Oregon, has been a big topic of discussion for over a month. We had consistently heavy snowfalls that built up on the roofs and streets and required removal. But that was inadequate in many cases and the streets became amazingly bumpy with ice mounds. There must have been a lot of ice dams on people’s roofs because among my acquaintances several have had water damage inside of their houses. I scraped my roof a lot after every snow storm and didn’t have really deep build up, but all the same, there were ice dams along the edges of the eaves that went back a couple of feet under the snow. Before next year I intend to buy an Avalanche roof rake. I saw some of them in action and they were much more efficient than a standard roof rake. Today, all the major streets are dry in most places, but I live on a residential road but even it will be clear if ice and slush tomorrow. My front yard is still over a foot deep in snow, and along the driveway where I shoveled snow it is four feet deep, but the temperatures are going into the 50s all next week so that will all be gone. Thus, it is time for me to start building my garden greenhouse. I’m planning a 12 foot by 12-foot arched roof as my first attempt and if it goes up easily I might put a 12 foot by 12-foot extension on the open end. Time and experience will be the deciding factors.

I’ve been reading the Stoic Philosophy of Seneca by Moses Hadas pages 107-136 the last few days. I’ve read this several times before, but every time I reread it the stories become more vivid and horrifying. Seneca was at the center of the Roman aristocracy throughout all of his adult life, and his uncle was the governor of Egypt, where Seneca may have spent several of his teenage years. Later, back in Rome, Seneca was accused of having a relationship with Julia Livilla, a sister of Caligula and Agrippina, and sentenced to exile in Corsica. A couple of years later he was recalled from exile to become the tutor of a young prince Nero. Seneca was Nero’s close companion for many years and when Nero became Emperor of the Roman Empire, Seneca was his chief advisor. Seneca was dead center at the most powerful political place in the world; thus when he writes we are hearing the words of a person with personal experience of absolute power.

Seneca is one of the most important people in Western Civilization and I wished that I had taken Latin in high school and read him in my youth rather than in my geriatric years.