When I switched the annual Koschnick Times to a blog, I hoped to be able to post about our shenanigans at least every other week or more frequently if I had material worthy of a post. So here we are on February 6 making the second post of the year. I used to be a crastinator but have upped my game to the professional level – now I’m a procrastinator. But I have an excuse. I’ve been preoccupied with a health issue that isn’t fully addressed yet. Back in November I had a regular appointment with my urologist. After telling him about a couple of episodes of passing blood after having covid he decided to do a cystoscope in mid-December to examine the inside of my bladder and discovered a growth that looked suspicious. So in Mid-January I was scheduled to have an outpatient procedure to biopsy the growth. In the OR they had some difficulty getting at the growth, so they did a TURP (basically a roto-rooter trim of the prostate) and I ended up having to stay in the hospital overnight while they ran about 10 gallons of saline through the bladder – in and out through a catheter. Five days later I had the catheter out but that night I ended up at the emergency room having another catheter put in to drain the bladder. Yesterday I had the second catheter out and am now able to void without problems. Meanwhile the biopsy results came back. They tested both the growth and the prostate tissue they removed. The prostate has a very small – but non-zero chance of being cancerous. The bladder growth turns out to be “Fragments of papillary urothelial carcinoma, high-grade.” Which is a serious form of bladder cancer. My follow-up appointment is not until February 27. Until then, I’m left to ponder – did they get it all? Will I need additional tests to see if it has spread? Will there be some sort of treatment regimen?

While all of this has been happening I have managed to get out and about the neighborhood and capture a few photographs worth sharing – all have been previously posted in one or more Facebook pages.

This male Pileated Woodpecker struck several poses for me then flew off in search of bugs.

Just after sunset over the Mohawk River between Peebles Island and Van Schaick Island.

If you’ve ever seen a production of the play “Waiting for Godot” you’ll know that the two main characters are sitting on the side of the road under a leafless tree waiting for Godot – who never shows up. When I saw this tree I immediately thought of the play.

One of our resident Red-tailed Hawks.

OK – this is a photo funny that I’ve wanted to make for a few years but never had the time when conditions were right. Shakespeare’s Richard III opens with the line “Now is the winter of our discontent.” I decided that John Travolta and Shakespeare should get together. I say “Now is the winter of our Disco Tent.”