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 |  A Baby-Boomer STILL alive and living in senior housing...
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The random thoughts of a Baby-Boomer STILL adjusting to life in senior housing (after five years)... Almost exactly nine months after World War II ended, one historian writes, “the cry of the baby was heard across the land.” More babies were born in 1946 than ever before: 3.4 million, 20 percent more than in 1945. This was the beginning of the so-called “baby boom.” In 1947, another 3.8 million babies were born; 3.9 million were born in 1952; and more than 4 million were born every year from 1954 until 1964, when the boom finally tapered off. By then, there were 76.4 million “baby boomers” in the United States. They made up almost 40 percent of the nation’s population. - www.history.com |
| Ugh! Calamity Cleary made her rounds here at The Home yesterday warning us residents to beware today lest that errant satellite, which is currently hurtling toward Earth, fall on us at any point. Doom-and-Gloom Earl had it on “good authority” that it wouldn’t land on us. Complaining Connie groused about the recent price increase on cottage cheese. Angie nodded her head. Mrs. Roper appeared in the lobby wearing an animal-print caftan and gold, heeled shoes adorned with pink feathers, a purple scarf and her trademark patchouli. I shook my head at all the goings-on. Was there a full moon yesterday? Geez. I’m glad the weekend is upon us. Life is good. |
| Ugh! My allergies are gone! They lasted less than a week; I think it mostly has to do with the wet weather we’ve experienced the past few days here at The Home. Whatever the case, I’m glad to have my runny nose cease its draining…(s)not fun. Our nights have been cool and I’ve noticed leaves are just beginning their transformation into their annual autumn array of spectacularness. My windows look out onto the mountain about two miles in the distance; it’s always fun to watch the progression of color from the top of the mountain to the bottom as fall progresses. I’ve already noticed some fleeting, falling foliage on my walks up the hills by the cemeteries – and it’s been cool enough two days this past week that I had to wear sweats for my sojourns. However the weather folks are predicting a brief warming trend (with showers, rain, thunder, and high humidity) over the next few days. I hope that once this dark and dreary weather system passes my allergies don’t come back. Achoo. I’m hungry for pork and sauerkraut and apple pie…good, that’s half my shopping list for the farmer’s market this weekend. Life is good. |
| Ugh! We had our apartment fire extinguishers inspected/serviced yesterday here at The Home; it’s an annual ritual done for safety purposes, I suppose; and I think it must have something to do with a state law or federal regulation or municipal code. No matter the reason, it happened. I got the knock on my door just as I stepped out of the shower after my morning walk…I’m glad they came early, but I wish they had waited just a few minutes longer. The Home’s maintenance guy accompanied the fire extinguisher guy; fire extinguisher guy did his thing while maintenance guy and I watched – it was awkward, but I couldn’t think of anything to say, so four eyes were focused on fire extinguisher guy. The whole process lasted about two minutes; I’m not sure what he did – he took it off the wall, put it on the countertop, took something off of it, put something onto it, hung it back up and the two of them left. So I guess I’m protected for another year. A little later I ran into Complaining Connie and Diane on my way outside for a smoke. Diane was upset that she was told to take the elephant cozy she had knitted a few months ago off her extinguisher – it was a safety hazard. Connie joined in with her own woeful tale; Diane had knitted one for her, too, and she was also reprimanded. Somehow I feel a little safer knowing that pachyderms are not hindering our safety here at The Home. Life is good. |
| Ugh! Well, I reluctantly changed my Netflix subscription from 1-DVD-at-a-time with unlimited streaming to unlimited streaming only. Their recent price increase makes it unfeasible for me to keep the dual plan. I like having both formats available because not all movies are able to be streamed, but I’ve found enough of them to keep me happy for a while. If they had raised their prices, let’s say five or ten percent, I would have stayed; but a 60% rise is not palatable…for me anyway…and apparently for thousands of others who are switching plans or just plain dropping Netflix all together. I’m saddened by the turn of events; however, I am taking a firm stand and voting my displeasure by downgrading my service plan. My streaming queue has over 80 titles in it, therefore I’m set for the foreseeable future… …unless, of course, enough customers bail and Netflix goes under. That would be even sadder. Oh, well, time will tell… Price increases are inevitable, and businesses are in business to make money, so this should come as no surprise to anyone. But not a large jump like Netflix imposed. Luckily for me, the service is not a must-have…it’s a nice-to-have. If it had been, oh, I don’t know, the price of cereal that increased by such a large percentage, I’d give up my regular brand and shop around for something else to fill the void (I NEED my cereal each morning for the fiber it provides…I could swallow a pill or drink some fibrous concoction, but I enjoy the crunch of fibroid squigglies), eventually settling on some other brand and, in time, adjusting. But there is little competition out there to replace the deal I had with Netflix. Good-bye, dear friend…your red envelopes will be missed in my mailbox. And my relatively new Blu-Ray DVD player will now just gather dust until the time comes when Netflix comes to their senses. Or I find a replacement. Until then… Life is good. |
| Ugh! [sniff…] [honk…] [sniff…] My allergies kicked in again over the weekend here at The Home. Along with the much cooler weather, Ma Nature decided to play games with my sinuses and release all sorts of pollen into the atmosphere. I’m guessing that’s what it is causing my discomfort. My poor nose resembles Rudolph – he of sleigh fame. Friday night I went to the local high school’s opening home football game. My niece plays piccolo in the band; it was tricky trying to locate her on the field – the band has over 300 members so they managed to fill the field almost from end zone to end zone…quite a spectacle to behold. And it felt like football weather – just cool enough to require a jacket; much better than past years when shorts and tee-shirts were the only attire necessary to sit in the stands to cheer on The Hurricanes. Even though I wore a jacket, my sister was kind enough to remark on my weight loss, so that felt nice. Unfortunately our team lost on the last play of the game: 42-41…a real heartbreaker. When I got home, I sneezed 26 times without stopping (I counted them for some unknown reason)…and when I woke up Saturday morning, I was all sniffly and stopped up. Ugh. However, on the bright side of things, the weather folks promise temperatures in the 70s all week. Yay! Autumn! And, it’s Talk Like a Pirate Day today! [Arrrrrggghh] Enjoy! Life is good. |
| Ugh! Yesterday I received two goose-down pillows I had ordered a few weeks back to replace my 15-year-old pillows that had become flatter and flatter as the years passed. I really couldn’t afford them, but they’re very comfortable and they help me sleep better (at least that’s the justification I used when placing my order). They arrived in a smaller-than-expected box. My first thought was that a mistake had been made with my order. I opened the box gingerly and inside were two “pillows” – at least that’s what they resembled. I took them out of their plastic wrappers and “whoosh” – they plumped up nice and easy. I enjoyed that! So I eagerly anticipated bedtime last night for two reasons: 1. I’d get to use my new pillows – aahhhhh 2. The temperatures were supposed to go down into the 40s here at The Home for the first time since last spring I was stoked. Everything went off on both fronts: the new pillows worked out great and I had to get up about 1 a.m. to turn off the window fan because it was mighty chilly in my bedroom – not that I minded; I like to sleep in chill, but it takes my body a little getting used to for the really cold air and last night was the first exposure; I caved. When I got back into bed I could only feel one pillow; I reached all over the bed in the dark for the lost one but couldn’t locate it. In my sleep fog I imagined someone had broken into my apartment and stolen it whilst I slept and I considered turning on the light to aid in my search, but nixed that idea on the grounds that the glaring luminosity would waken me sufficiently enough that I wouldn’t go back to sleep, so I resorted to thinking it had maybe fallen to the floor and I’d find it in the morning and promptly drifted off to slumber on the remaining goose-y cloud ‘neath my noggin. In the morning, when I got out of bed, my feet landed on unexpected softness. It was the errant pillow. I am happy. Life is good. |
| Ugh! When I retrieved my mail yesterday here at The Home, I heard Beatrice (of Beatrice and Edith – the two sisters that recently moved into adjoining apartments on the second floor) talking to Mrs. Roper in the lobby: “…up all night yet again.” (B) “Oh, I know what *that’s* like, Beadie.” (Mrs. R) “Not like I have it, you don’t.” I slunk past and opened my mailbox. They were so involved they didn’t notice me. Good. “Don’t be so sure, dear.” (Mrs. R) “I’ve been there for years, believe you me.” “I was telling my sister, Edie—“ (B) “How is she doing, by the way? I haven’t seen her yet today.” “—She’s a helluva lot better than I’m doing right now, I’ll tell you that!” (B again) I pulled out an envelope, noted the return address: The Home’s management office – gulp – and closed my mailbox door. “Oh, Beadie, things can’t be all that bad, dear, can they?” (Mrs. R) “They’re worse. I’m telling you, I was up all night with burning down here and…” (B) I hightailed it out of the lobby. No need for me to know about the private matters and girly parts of Mrs. Roper, Edie, or Beadie. (I like to fantasize Beatrice and Edith toured as a sister act long ago – imagine: “Live from the Starlight Room, high atop the Peoria Grande Hotel, direct from a sold-out two-night engagement in Topeka, Kansas, let’s have a warm welcome for our hometown siblings: Beadie and Edie Stump! The Stump Sisters, ladies and gentlemen!” [mild applause]). Yikes! It reminded me of the day (long ago now) when I lived in my house on the hill on the other side of town. Mrs. Ritter, my next-door neighbor up the hill (her living room looked into my second floor front bedroom – the hill was that steep), caught me in my backyard one day. She came over to her fence and started a conversation. To converse, I had to look up over the concrete retaining wall (about eight feet high). That afforded me a view underneath her house dress and the rolled-down portions of her stockings. I only looked once. That was enough. She proceeded to tell me about her bladder infection. Ugh…more information than I needed or cared to know. I stared at a pockmark on the wall, and pondered how it had gotten there in the first place, for several embarrassing, endless minutes as she babbled on about her malady; I nodded occasionally. But, I wanted to scream, “LEAVE ME ALONE!” However, I kept my composure – kind person that I am. She was lonely and needed someone to talk to. Unfortunately, it was me. Ugh. In an effort to not relive that sensitive area –err, occurrence with Beadie and Mrs. R, I sped up the stairwell into the confines of my cozy abode and opened the envelope from management with trepidatious fingers. My rent was adjusted. Ugh. By nine dollars LESS a month! YAY! Then I remembered my latest electric bill went up $12. C’est la vie. Life is good. |
| Ugh! Well, yesterday was Vera-the-Activities-Director Day here at The Home. Apparently (via the faux-sage advice and always-doubtful words from Doom-and-Gloom Earl) she is no longer coming…seems she was merely doing it as a favor for Pam, The Home’s on-site manager who jumped this Titanic a few weeks back. So now we have even less to do once-a-month now that she’s gone with the wind, too – no biggie; Vera wasn’t very “active” in an activities-director sense of the title anyway. I would have missed out on her session as it turned out – I visited my doctor for my annual physical yesterday. My doctor is a very tiny, wiry-haired, Russian woman who berated me for losing too much weight. She said I was “…all bones and skin” and I was still fully clothed. Must be her heritage: I don’t possess the look stocky Russians acquire from a steady diet of beets, potatoes and vodka... I related to her my walking/exercise/diet regime and the fact that I no longer eat white potatoes, white rice, or white bread; instead it’s yams, brown rice, and only whole-wheat breads - and high-fiber cereal. She shook her head in dismay, typed something into the computer on my (at least I *hope* it’s my) electronic chart and said, “Okay, time for prostate…drop pants…bend.” I obeyed her orders as she got behind me; I heard the snapping sound of a rubber glove being applied somewhere off in the distance. (She’s so small; she has to get a running start from across the room in order to perform the procedure.) She uttered, “Mm-hmm,” afterwards as I pulled up, zipped, and turned to face her. I took that to mean I passed. She didn’t say anything else and we proceeded with the rest of the physical: lungs – still there; heart – still ticking; eyes, ears, throat, tongue – all clear; reflexes – still kicking; skin – three questionable areas that require follow-up; blood pressure, pulse – satisfactory. “Good, I see you next year.” “Okay,” I said. “Thanks.” “And eat more!” She shook her head as I exited. I came back to The Home and ate a peach. Life is good. |
| Ugh! Last week I watched many, many episodes of “Mad Men” from Netflix during our flooding rainy weather – the Emmy-Award-winning show from AMC that chronicles life on Madison Avenue, New York City in the 1960s. Gosh, they smoked and drank a lot! In almost every scene, someone (or more likely, EVERYone) has a cigarette dangling from a mouth, posed in outstretched fingers, tapped from a pack, lit with a butane lighter, or stubbed out in a fancy cut-glass ashtray; pouring a drink, sipping a cocktail, ordering a glass of spirits. The cigarettes and drinks are almost non-stop: the office, restaurant/bar, home in the kitchen, patio, commuter train, play dates with the kids, backyard barbecues, card club, elevators, rest rooms – heck, even the pregnant women smoke and drink! The cars are HUGE; the furniture mod-sleek-funky; the women are all buxom, made-up, and carefully coifed; the men are all closely shorn and well-suited; the secretaries cater to their bosses; the bosses treat their secretaries like pieces of furniture… We’ve come a long way. And I’m loving it! It’s kind of fun to see where we once were – it’s also kind of scary and cringe-worthy at times. There was a sort of innocence about life back then that was rattled by the events of the latter part of the decade…this show takes place pre-Beatles, pre-LBJ, pre-flower children/anti-war crowds – almost pre-awareness of fair treatment of others. Anti-female sentiments and anti-Semitism are rife…there are no minorities depicted in the episodes I’ve watched thus far – it’s all waspy Caucasian all the time: much like life was depicted on TV in that era before Civil Rights legislation changed the course of what-should-be equal existence in this country. I can see why it won Emmy Awards: it’s intelligent, well-acted, well-written – all-around it’s a treat to view. It got me reminiscing: I started my banking career as a teller; back then smoking was accepted just about everywhere – including at the teller windows. We all puffed away as we cashed checks and accepted deposits for customers’ Christmas club savings accounts; the customers smoked as well, and we constantly blew smoke in each other’s faces. (It’s hard to believe remembering this now, but it happened.) One day Margaret, a fellow teller and good friend, shut her window to leave for her lunch hour. About six minutes after she exited the lobby, I noticed smoke coming from her station. I investigated; wisps issued from behind her locked cash drawer. The manager and I managed to break into it (how the alarm didn’t go off remains a mystery; so much for bank security, eh?) and removed the smoldering butt; luckily it had landed in the ones slot, and not the 20s slot – damage was minimal: about three dollars. Even that close call didn’t result in a no-smoking policy – things were different back then. And I recall my aunt’s wedding when I was five years old…she chose me to be the ring bearer. I had to be coaxed down the aisle (actually, she ended up bribing me with the promise of a new toy – I can’t remember what toy now – to “…just do me this one favor…” – it worked). When we got to the reception hall, the bridal party waited in the lobby to make its grand entrance. The time came – the emcee introduced members of the party: the doors swung open and a cloud of smoke billowed from the guest-filled room. It scared me; I cried because I thought the place was on fire. I refused to go in. Again. Eventually my aunt calmed me down and in we all went. I can’t remember much of that night except the cloud of smoke hanging about two feet above everyone’s heads…and my new uncle getting looped on the dance floor from too much hooch. I’m glad we’ve moved forward from those times… And now, it’s time to head out for a smoke. Life is good. |
| Ugh! I’m back from a week’s R&R here at The Home. Weather-wise things were downright damp; if it wasn’t the humidity, it was rain – almost every day; Friday around noon we experienced sunshine (and with it, bad humidity…sigh); however, leading up to that were days of showery, drippy, pouring, drenching, flooding, thundery, foggy – a little bit of everything thrown into the mix. I managed to get my daily walks in, though, so that was good – despite the nearly 14 inches of the stuff. I do like overcast, rainy, stormy days…but a week of them is a bit much – even for me. Ugh. With the inclement weather behind us here at The Home, I got bored; yesterday prompted me to look through my old stuff where I ran across something I wrote back in 2004. It won the daily prize in the Cramp. Herewith my winning entry; I think it’s apropos: __ New Prompt: On my desk is a snow globe of Snoopy sitting at his typewriter on top of his doghouse. He's typing the words, "It was a dark and stormy night..." Here's the first sentence of your story... "It was a bright and sunny day..." The rest is up to you. __ It was a bright and sunny day that Tuesday at the end of summer. Technically it was still summer; the calendar said autumn wouldn't start for another 10 days. The previous days had presented us with high humidity and temperatures here in Pennsylvania and we were all tired of summer by that point. The night before we experienced storms accompanied by high winds, heavy rains, sky-brightening jags of lightning followed rapidly by house-jarring rumbles of thunder. That morning, though, a crystal-clear blue sky, light winds and bright sunshine greeted us. I replenished the birdfeeders in my backyard; fed Mr. Squirrel, who frequented every day, his morning ration of peanuts; came back inside and patted my cat, Miss Bessie Smith; grabbed my briefcase and lunch; went out onto my porch; locked my front door and started off on my five-block walk to the office. The scent of the two-doors-down neighbors' autumn clematis filled the air as I walked past. I nodded and chatted briefly with some neighbors along the way. The air was clean after a long period of humid, grey haze. There was a hint of fall as I walked on; it was only a matter of time until the leaves changed colors and provided us with the many hues of Mother Nature going to sleep for the winter. A block away from my office I saw a co-worker drive into the parking lot. Steve waved to me; I nodded to him and waited. He parked, got out of his car, and joined me for the walk of that last block to our office building. We discussed the storms of the previous night and he told me that later that day he'd have to get home to clean up some branches that littered his backyard. We looked up as a plane from the local airport flew overhead beginning its ascent into the ether. We blinked as the bright sun glinted off the body of the plane. "What a glorious day, huh?" Steve smiled and looked at me. I smiled, nodded and opened the door to our building. We went inside; he went upstairs to his office; I went to my desk. The sunshine was so bright I had to close the blinds on the window beside my desk. I put my lunch bag in the refrigerator, came back to my desk, turned on my computer, and waited. The door opened. My boss came in. We exchanged greetings, mentioned the storms of the previous night, remarked about the day’s remarkably nice weather, discussed details about the staff meeting scheduled for later that morning, and off he went to his office. Other co-workers arrived and we discussed the change in weather and how pleasant things felt. Life was good. It was 8:05 a.m. September 11, 2001. It was a bright and sunny day... -- Off for my morning walk… Life is good. |
| Ugh! After a four-day stretch of really beautiful weather here in Pennsylvania, summer began to creep back in yesterday…it wasn’t so much the heat; it was the humidity building in the atmosphere. But now we’re in September so the sun is lowering in the sky each day – I know this because I have to lower my window shades in the late afternoon so the sun doesn’t blind out the TV; the routine lasts several months as the shade-lowering hour gets closer and closer to noon until mid-December when the process is done in reverse…ain’t nature wonderful? Soon the air conditioners will be removed from the windows and nights will be chilly enough to afford restful sleep in natural air – can’t wait! Of course, that means Complaining Connie will have her seasonal grousing sharpened and ready to pierce any friendly conversation…sigh. Autumn is a wonderful time of year – makes me hungry for pumpkin pie and hot cider with cinnamon sticks…and coconut M&Ms (sorry, I can’t resist them; I wish I’d never heard of them…) Woke up this morning with “Auld Lang Syne” playing over and over in my head…wonder what dream triggered that. I viewed a quirky little film from Netflix yesterday: “Get Low” – based loosely on a true story about a man in 1930s Tennessee who planned his own funeral so he could attend it while he was still alive. It starred Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek…rather enjoyable, but those two always are a treat to see. (I’m taking next week off – a little R&R here at The Home to say good-bye to summer and hello to autumn…and attempt to hide from CC, DnG Earl, Diane, Mrs. Roper, and the rest of the passengers…) Here’s hoping: Life is good. |
| Ugh! Angie caught up to me while I was outside The Home having a smoke yesterday morning. “Hi, Angie.” (me) “Hi. I’m going to tell you this because I know you won’t say anything to somebody else.” (her) (I wonder why she thought she could trust me so much…) “Okay, go ahead.” “Last night I rescued a stray cat and brought it home. I was going to call animal control, but it was too late and decided to call this morning. Could you give me a ride to the shelter if I paid you?” “What time?” (me) “I’m not sure. When I got up this morning, my screen was torn and it was lifted up and the cat was gone.” (her) “Uh-oh. Did it come back?” “Not yet…I’m out looking for it now. If I find it I’ll knock on your door to take me to the shelter. It has a lot of tumors on its legs. I hope none of them broke last night.” And off she shuffled down the street. I finished my smoke and came inside. Angie already is breaking the rules: she presently has two cats in her apartment – the limit is one pet per household. I don’t know how she gets away with it, but she does. Our apartments are very small; two, let alone three (and one with tumors, to boot), cats are too much. I hope she’s not turning into a cat lady. Maybe the people from A&E’s “Hoarders” will show up here at The Home for an episode. That would be exciting! On a brighter note, today is the first day of my favorite month…”good-bye, August; welcome, September!” Life is good. |
| Ugh! Rather I should say, “Yahoo!” I reached milestone number two yesterday after my second daily walk; I entered the information into my walking diary and observed new totals: Steps = 2,001,836 Miles = 1,010.1 Weight Loss = 40.2 pounds All that since mid-March: through snow, sleet, rain, sun, heat, humidity, frigid air, high winds, fog – maybe I should be working for the Post Office? I now sport a farmer’s tan; thank goodness summer is coming to an end – I’d look mighty strange on the beach with tan arms, face and legs and pasty everywhere else. “Mommy, Mommy, what’s wrong with that old man?” Now I can say, “Ugh!” I treated myself to “The Three Faces of Eve” and a bowl of popcorn with a few coconut M&Ms thrown in for good behavior. Life is good. |
| Ugh! During my walks yesterday I observed the aftermath of the hurricane: downed trees in the cemeteries at the top of the hill, lots of branches and leaves littering streets and sidewalks, and a ton of walnuts and acorns that blew off trees prematurely onto my walking route making walking hazardous. I hadn’t been that unsteady on my feet since my 25th birthday celebration when I downed nine mint juleps…what a night *that* was! Power is still a problem in this area…lucky for us here at The Home: we just had intermittent outages – the longest lasting about five minutes. Seven miles away, my parents’ house lost power 5:30 Sunday morning – they have no electric, cable, phone. I contacted the power company on their behalf. The estimate for them to be back in operation is 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 31 August – another day to go. And they’re fortunate – others in this area can expect to be offline until the weekend. As dicey as things get here at The Home now and then, at least we have electric, cable and phone services. Mother Nature is blessing us with pleasant weather – no need for air conditioning for the next few days; and no rain, either. Just one more day of this lousy month – then it’s on to September: my favorite month of the year. Yay! Life is good. |
| Ugh! Well, last week gave us an earthquake and a hurricane…what’s next? Locusts? I kept notes over the weekend to keep track of goings-on Irene-wise here at The Home and its environs. Friday 26AUG11: Morning began with a quest for batteries for my flashlight. I finally found the flashlight in my toolbox (which is really an old shoe box with a hammer, some screwdrivers, a Vise Grip, a hack saw (don’t ask) and some nails and string), but the batteries were dead. First stop: grocery store. Lots of people, crowded aisles, and not one D-cell battery to be found. Ugh. But I did get tuna fish (canned), yogurt, and milk – so if we lose power I have protein and calcium. Second stop: farmers’ market. Double Ugh. TONS of people, crowded aisles, had to wait for a cart, but they did have D-cell batteries – I got two, plus broccoli, nectarines, strawberries, and chicken: more protein and fiber – in case the power goes out. At The Home made phone calls to hardware stores, discount stores, DIY stores looking for a chimney and wick for my oil lamp and the needed lamp oil. Called nine places – none had anything. In the afternoon, drove 30 miles to a farmers’ market I used to frequent 20 years ago that also has a large flea market attached in the hopes someone there sold materials for oil lamps. Success! Got a chimney, new wick, and a bottle of lamp oil. Happy! Also bought two [very unhealthy] apple fritters (decided to treat myself with a little gluttony after being triumphant in getting hurricane supplies) and a basket of peaches. Back home again…oil lamp constructed and tested…recharged Kindle…ready for the storm! Watched TV news/weather reports – depressing: mandatory evacuations, flood/wind/rain warnings, mass transit shutdowns (unprecedented), gas stations running out of gas, ATMs running out of money, grocery stores running out of supplies…general madness. I attribute most of it to media over-coverage, but I guess some of the hysteria was acquired after Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. Saturday 27AUG11: 1 a.m. – woke up; couldn’t fall back asleep so did New York Times crossword; by the time I finished it I was WIDE awake…sigh. Decided to do shorter walks this weekend dodging still-to-come-as-promised wind and rain…I figure I’ve earned a respite. 9:30 a.m. – back to The Home from doctor’s appointment at 8 a.m.: balmy and overcast. However, the news and weather people are very frantic with pleas to head to higher ground and stay home or evacuate – I can’t make up my mind which to follow: go or stay. Noon – decided to stay at The Home, but I did move my car up a hill in a different part of town and walked back (the street by The Home floods sometimes in heavy rain and I’m afraid the parking lot will become saturated and I’m not sure my auto insurance has flood coverage…I know, I’m a wimp). Winds picking up, still overcast, but big drops of rain are falling. 3 p.m. – wall-to-wall TV coverage of storm and its still-awaiting destruction…local station reported a tree fell onto a chain-link fence in someone’s back yard; they provided five minutes of live coverage of the event replete with eyewitnesses and an estimate of the damages. Sigh. Here at The Home trees are blowing a bit; every now and again heavy rain falls - nothing steady; these must be the bands the weather folks have been touting. Power still on; oil lamp and flashlight on shelf awaiting utilization…ate one of the apple fritters; very good (gotta love those Mennonites). Cut up peaches and strawberries for breakfasts this coming week. Bored…hungry. 6 p.m. – Ate dinner while power was still on…rain falling steadily now…went out for a smoke and two leaves blew off a tree. The brunt of the storm still hasn’t arrived in this area of Pennsylvania…The Home residents are quiet…someone on the second floor blared Latin music for a while this afternoon – I’m glad I’m on the third floor. It’ll be an early night for me…I tried to take a nap this afternoon – unsuccessful: every time I felt myself drifting off, I awoke telling myself not to fall asleep lest I won’t sleep tonight; maddening. I usually sleep pretty well when it rains; not sure how I’ll do with 50 mph winds rattling the windows, though. We’ll see. 9 p.m. – Blowing trees and steady rain…for some reason the birds are swarming and swirling above the trees – it’s very eerie: thousands of them darting and swooping here and there as though they’re being blown about with no place to go (maybe they are?); the sky is black with them. I wonder what’s up with that… Sunday28AUG11: 4 a.m. – Winds woke me up with rain pelting against windows; it’s loud enough to hear above the sound of my air conditioner in bedroom. I’m glad I moved my car; the street in front of The Home is completely flooded and the water is halfway up the tires on the cars in the parking lot. The weather people say we have a few more hours of heavy rain. The lights flicker now and again, but so far so good with the power not failing…[fingers crossed and oil lamp at the ready] 5:35 a.m. – The lights went out…fumbled for my flashlight…knocked it on the floor, kicked it accidentally while trying to retrieve it, got it, located the oil lamp, lit the wick, adjusted the flame, got my Kindle to read by lamp light, and the lights came back on. Sigh. 7 a.m. – Raining sideways…blowing…branches and leaves litter the environs of The Home. Power still flickering on and off…mostly on, so that’s good. The weather people advising people to stay home unless ordered to evacuate. Have reset clocks and computer six times so far – annoying. Water somewhat receding in The Home’s parking lot, but still kind of engulfing the tires of the cars remaining. 10:30 a.m. – The weather folks tell us the worst is behind us: winds are diminishing, rain has slowed, parking lot drained, so I went and retrieved my car – now I can see it again and I feel better. noon – Ugh! The winds have REALLY kicked up late this morning – no more rain, but trees are bending over and branches/leaves are flying about. My power has gone out 17 times…and I’m getting mighty tired of resetting the clocks on my appliances…maybe I’ll just wait until tomorrow. Cable was out for about an hour; DSL crapped out one time. All the local TV/radio stations are flooding us (bad pun, I know) with wall-to-wall coverage of damages done by wind and floods and power outages; thousands have no lights and might not for a few days. Sad. 6 p.m. – Winds have at last died down…ground littered with tree branches and leaves, mud all over the streets, and THE SUN CAME OUT! Good night, Irene! Monday 29AUG11: 5 a.m. – Things are relatively back to normal…about 50,000 power outages remain in the immediate vicinity; most roads are now passable; driving restrictions have been recalled – no major catastrophes in this area (unless we count the fact that I ate my last apple fritter: gosh, those Mennonites know how to fry up dough with apples in it!). The Home remains afloat for another day. Reset the clock on my stove, but it’s three minutes fast and I’m tired of futzing with it, so until DST ends in a few months, I’ll do the mental math when referring to that clock. Back to my regular routine…none the worse for wear. Bring on the locusts! Life is good. |
| Ugh! The weather folks have put dread in the air for this coming weekend what with their dire predictions for Hurricane Irene: 50-70mph winds, torrential rains (5” – 10”), widespread flooding… Lucky for me The Home is situated on a hill, plus I live on the third floor, so the water would have to be mighty deep to cause me any harm. (My car in the parking lot, though, could be at risk.) I suppose Calamity Cleary will be roaming the hallways today and tomorrow warning us all of impending disaster. Doom-and-Gloom Earl will be in his glory if the storm does occur. And Complaining Connie will be in her element. Yay… Just in case the prognosticators are right about this I’m buying batteries for my flashlight. Now all I have to do is find my flashlight. I think I have one somewhere…I do have an oil lamp, but no oil in it – nor does it have a chimney. I don’t know why I lug it around with me. Habit, I suppose… This could be a long weekend. Ugh. (This is my 200th entry – [trumpet blares] [champagne popping] [hic]) Despite all the above… Life is good. |
| Ugh! Bored again at The Home yesterday after my second walk of the day… in the mail I got my latest selection from Netflix: “The Rockefellers” – a 3-1/2 hour documentary of the famous clan. I made it halfway through and will watch the rest today if I can summon up the courage to delve more into one family than I probably should. All I can say so far is I’m glad I’m not rich…oi, the problems! ‘Tis far easier to live month-to-month on a meager budget and possess next to nothing than have stacks of cash lie around willy-nilly. Although, to be honest, I’d like to try the lush lifestyle for a month. Or two. Or a year. If I must… In the meantime I’ll continue my frugal existence pinching pennies and finding stray coins (and the rare paper currency) in the neighborhood on my forays each day…every little bit helps. Would be nice if I had a Rockefeller relative, however – just someone to send me a nice Christmas gift each year with my name on the Pay-to-the-Order-of line…nothing much… (But the more zeroes and commas, the better – hint, hint) Off to burn calories… Life is good. |
| Ugh! Well, we at The Home survived the great East Coast 5.8 earthquake yesterday…all were unscathed save Doom-and-Gloom Earl who announced it nearly knocked him out of his chair. Hardly…it felt like a little rolling – no more, no less. I’m still glad I don’t live in earthquake-prone areas of the world, though. It was a bit unsettling for the 10 seconds it lasted. A while back I ordered coffee from amazon.com…it was very good, so I joined their Subscribe-and-Save program. By agreeing to have a shipment sent every so often, I get a percentage discount plus free shipping. Coffee is something I don’t like to run out of and it’s also something I neglect to put on my grocery list for some unknown reason resulting in me having to make a trip back to the grocery store, hence I’ll let someone else do the remembering for me…at a price, of course. So my coffee comes in whole-bean, five-pound bags. I grind it early each morning (surprisingly my next-door neighbor with the bat hearing hasn’t complained of that noise) (yet!) and enjoy two cups to get my day started. Yesterday when I returned from my afternoon walk (and before the tremor), I heard a knock on my door. I didn’t feel like dealing with anyone right then so I crept to the door and looked through the peephole, hoping against hope it wasn’t Complaining Connie with her dog, Rascal in tow looking for a dog sitter – unannounced once again. I didn’t see anyone. (It was only later I thought how stupid that was of me thinking the coast was clear; if it had been CC, I wouldn’t have seen her anyway in her wheelchair. Rats! Foiled again…) so I opened the door and there was a box on the floor from amazon. It’s the third one in the past two weeks. Yup, another five-pound bag of coffee. You see, I order three different kinds – Orange Seville, Crème Brulee, and Highlander Grogg and rotate them every day. My subscriptions are to arrive every three months. I checked my online account; I screwed up with the scheduling and all three arrived in a ten-day period instead of one a month every three months. Oi. I’m set coffee-wise until almost the end of the year. I’ll have to do some serious calendar looking and reschedule things at amazon in the hopes I don’t drive up the demand for coffee worldwide. Just think, I could be the reason for price increases in coffee futures on Wall Street…sorta made me feel a tad powerful. For a while anyhow…then the earthquake struck and knocked me back to reality. Fame is fleeting. And… Life is good. |
| Ugh! After a day of storms we experienced another banner day here at The Home yesterday. Well, at least *I* did. Ran into Complaining Connie who groused about the cost of eggs and automobile insurance… I’m going to avoid her soon if she doesn’t change her attitude. It’s so tiring to hear only negativity. The day I talk to her and she responds positively to something I’ve said will be the day a bus jumps the sidewalk and flattens me on one of my walks. Oi. August has been kind of tame weather-wise in these parts. July was brutal and I dreaded the onset of the eighth month – my least favorite, but so far Mother Nature has been quite kind temperature-wise. Humidity levels, though, have been very bad – lucky for the electric company: we’re still running our air conditioners lest we mildew ourselves into a funk. (Yes, CC gave me an earful about that, too! Sigh.) But yesterday was and today promises to be delightful. Over the weekend I got hungry for stuffed peppers, so at the farmer’s market I purchased the ingredients for that dish and I’m set for the week with my meals. I’m rotating the stuffed peppers with garlic-chicken sausage and peppers and onions and yams. That will satisfy my craving for peppers for a while. I wish my yens developed in a more sensible manner; or I wish I could control my gastronomic desires and not jump in feet first whenever they arise. If my freezer was bigger, I’d save some of the meals to scatter throughout my menu for the month, but it’s not, so I cook on Sundays to have my meals ready for the rest of the week. I guess I could cook each day – like a normal person. However after many, many years of Sunday cooking while I worked, it’s ingrained in my psyche…it’s okay. At least I’m eating healthy food. More than I can say for Larry. I saw him enter The Home Sunday morning carrying two boxes from Dunkin’ Donuts. I suppose he was serious when he told me a while back he is off his diet. “Really, Larry?” Off for a lower-than-it-should-be-in-August-almost-humidity-free walk through town. Life is good. |
| Ugh! I read over the weekend here at The Home that each step taken involves 200 muscles. I don’t know where all those muscles are (I didn’t even know my body had 100 muscles, let alone 200) but I was impressed by the figure. That means an average day of taking 10,000 steps works out to about 2 million muscles. No wonder I’m tired. Off for my morning walk… :-/ Life is good. |
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no pun intended!