I weighed 86.65 kilos before breakfast.
At 12:20 I headed downtown for the U of T Grad School of Dentistry and the Periodontal clinic there for my surgery appointment. I had to pay an initial fee of $432 before the procedure and then another $429 after because Dr. Xia didn’t know until my gum was opened up if a bone graft could be done. I had a lot of freezing and so the only uncomfortable thing about the operation was that it took longer than most procedures other than root canals. So I got the bone graft and notice from the bill that it’s an allograft, which is from a human donor. I got stitches but I can’t see them when I look in the mirror. Maybe if I pulled my lip up really high I could see them. I have another appointment in two weeks and will probably get the stitches removed then. Meanwhile I’m on a soft diet and can’t eat anything crunchy or any of my usual grilled beef, pork or chicken meals. Dr. Xia is very competent and it wasn’t obvious he was a student until his instructor came in to take a look. Dr. Xia prescribed Ibuprofen and that horrible Peridex mouth rinse that I used a couple of years ago. He also told me not to wear my denture because it has a grip that reaches across the gum he operated on and he doesn’t want to aggravate it. I’ll mostly comply but I’m going to cheat a bit because I’m still shooting videos and the gap will show and also affect my singing. So I’ll risk it by wearing the denture during song practice but out in public I’ll go without it and deal with the gap.
On the way home I stopped at Freshco to look for soft foods. Dr. Xia had said ground beef would be okay so I got a pack. I also bought another salmon fillet, a dozen eggs and a bag of cheese sticks. I assume the latter are soft enough.
I went to Vina Pharmacy and filled the prescription. I had to pay over $30 for the mouth rinse but the pain killers were covered.
I weighed 86.15 kilos at 17:12, which is the lightest I’ve been around that time since August 22. That’s usually the last time I weigh myself in the day but this time it’s when I had lunch. I would normally have Miss Vickie’s chips with salsa and skyr but I’m not supposed to eat chips and so I had some cooked but soft oven fries with salsa and skyr and a glass of orange juice.
I took a very late siesta and after I got up I weighed 86.65 kilos at 19:30.
I only had time to upload this morning’s video and my blog before dinner. I boiled a potato and steamed a salmon fillet above it. I had the potato with gravy and the steamed salmon for dinner. The steamed salmon with lemon was actually pretty tasty. I ate while watching the first episode of The Big Valley.
I remember this show being on when I was a kid and I’m sure I watched it but I don’t recall any of the stories or even the basic premise.
The story opens with Nick Barkley crossing a narrow bridge when he encounters the character Heath riding the other way and so neither is willing to back up. But then the bridge collapses under both of them and they make their ways to their opposite shores.
Later on a train some railroad barons are planning the takeover of 2000 farms and ranches, including the largest, which is the Barkley ranch. On the same train is Jarrod Barkley, the oldest brother on his way back from a meeting with the governor in San Francisco. Mr. Crown meets Jarrod in his cabin. Crown says the land is railroad land merely leased to the farmers ten years ago. Jarrod says the land was sold to them at auction. The law is on the side of the railroad. Crown says no one can beat the railroad but then Jarrod looks out the window and sees Heath on his horse and racing the train. Jarrod bets the rider will win and Crown bets against him, but Heath wins. Later Heath finds the grave of the patriarch Thomas Barkley in a clearing and is standing over it when a young woman on horseback begins whipping him. She’s Thomas’s daughter Audra and she’s mad because Heath is trampling the flowers she planted. He takes the whip away from her and apologizes for trampling the flowers. He says he knows what it’s like to be without a father. He says he’s looking for work at the Barkley ranch and she directs him there. Meanwhile Jarrod arrives home and his neighbours are there to meet him. They’ve each been given eviction notices at different times so the railroad’s army can clear them out one by one. Heath arrives and although Nick is reluctant to hire him, Jarrod says to sign him on. That night Nick comes to Heath’s bunk and tells him to get dressed. He takes him to the stable and confronts him. He wants to know why he chose the Barkley ranch out of all the ranches he passed to get there. Heath tries to walk away but Nick starts a fight, which he eventually wins. Nick demands to know who he is and Heath tells him he’s Thomas Barkley’s bastard son. The rest of the brothers are awakened and hear Heath tell his story. He says Thomas Barkley met his mother in a mining camp and then left. She told him who his father was on her death bed. Heath says he’s entitled to a share of the Barkley heritage. Later Audra goes to town where the men from the railroad army are shooting it up. She’s pulled off her horse and about to be raped when Heath grabs her and takes her to his room. She tries to seduce him but he knows it’s a test because if he gives in he’s not her brother. He takes her back and they find on the way that a neighbour’s house has been set ablaze. The neighbours decide then and there to fight. Heath goes back to the house to take the little bit of money from Jarrod he turned down but on his way he encounters the family matriarch Victoria Barkley. She overheard what he said about being Thomas’s son and she tells him to fight like her husband did because no one can deny him that birthright. The next morning the neighbours and the Barkley brothers are gathered at the site of the first eviction and ready to fight. The railroad army arrives and there is a standoff while the sheriff tells the ranchers to step aside. Heath rides in and takes a place with the ranchers. Then the battle begins and many are lost on both sides but the railroad thugs retreat. The next morning at breakfast Victoria says they can’t eat until the whole family is sitting. Nick argues against Heath suddenly being part of the family but finally demands that he be up with everybody else to work. But then Heath walks in having been up and working before anybody else. He sits down and then he and Nick dig their forks into the same steak. There is another standoff until Jarrod slices it in two.
Victoria Barkley was played by Barbara Stanwyck, whose mother was a Canadian from Nova Scoria. Barbara first got work as a Ziegfeld Girl at the age of 16 in New York. Her first starring role was in the play Burlesque on Broadway. She moved to Hollywood in 1928. Her film debut was in Broadway Nights. Her first starring role was in Ladies of Leisure. Her first talking film was The Locked Door. She starred in Mexicali Rose, So Big, Cattle Queen of Montana, Forbidden, Stella Dallas, Remember the Night, The Lady Eve, Union Pacific, Clash By Night, Golden Boy, Baby Face, My Reputation, Forty Guns, Lady of the Tropics, Arms and the Girl, The Bride Walks Out, Sorry Wrong Number, The Mad Miss Manton, Gambling Lady, Ever in My Heart, Forbidden, Night Nurse, The Bitter Tea of General Yen, You Belong to Me, Christmas in Connecticut, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, and The File on Thelma Jordon. She co-starred in Double Indemnity, Ball of Fire, Meet John Doe, This is My Affair, The Night Walker, Titanic, Executive Suite, and No Man of Her Own. In 1944 she was the highest paid woman in the US. She won three Emmy Awards, including for short lived Barbara Stanwyck Show. Her husband Frank Ray was a notorious asshole. A popular joke was “Who’s got the biggest prick in Hollywood? Answer: Barbara Stanwyck”. She was nominated four times for Academy awards. She won an Honourary Oscar for lifetime achievement. She was a big fan of Ayn Rand.
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