Older and Wiser

(I found this on the knitting forum)

Have you ever been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking, surely I can't look that old?

Well...you'll love this one.

My name is Alice Smith and I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his DDS diploma, which bore his full name.

Suddenly, I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 40-odd years ago.

Could he be the same guy that I had a secret crush on, way back then? Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought.

This balding, grey-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate. After he examined my teeth, i asked him if he had attended Morgan Park High School .

'Yes. Yes, I did. I’m a Mustang,' he gleamed with pride.

'When did you graduate?' i asked.

He answered, 'In 1975. Why do you ask?'

'You were in my class!', i exclaimed.

He looked at me closely.

Then that ugly, old, bald, wrinkled, fat, grey-haired, decrepit, S.O.B. asked me:

'What did you teach?'

Stormy Weather

We have had some rip-snorting weather for the last two days, big thunderstorms, the kind that make you jump.  Three of the house cats are chickens and hide inside the closet downstairs.  The other three can't be bothered; I understand why Gracie doesn't run, she is deaf and can only feel the vibrations. But the other two are nonchalant.  Why is this so odd?  Has to be something from kitten-hood, before we got them.  Anyway, the three scaredy cats eventually venture forth, stretching and all, Hiding, who me?

I have been reading several books by Melissa Olson, fantasy with vampires and werewolves, etc.  That makes them sound pretty juvenile and schlocky but they are a pretty good read.  These have been on my Kindle (instant gratification when ordering a book).  When i went to select one of them, Amazon told me I had already purchased one of them 3 years ago.  When I looked in my archives, sure enough there it was.  I  have no recollection of ever reading it, so there was another "new" book to read.  The problem with finding a new author is that I read faster then they write, so once I have covered all the previous books, I have to wait, sometimes a year or more, for the next installment.  And it leaves me searching for another author.

I was one of the early adopters of the Kindle.  Our actual bound versions of books have been driving us out of the house, one bookcase at a time.  I (guiltily) tossed several hundred books recently, when I gave up on selling them on Abebooks (see the clickable link at the right).  After two years (or more?) I basically paid people to take my books, what with the monthly charge, and the shipping, and it couldn't continue.  We offered them to the library (no) and to the used book store (going out of business) and finally at a flea market (a nickle each; if they didn't have a nickle, then just take them), and had hundreds left.  There are more in the attic, and filling boxes in odd corners of the house, and I can't justify keeping them all.  But I did cringe when we dumped them at the transfer station (trash site).

I went to google maps not long ago, looking at the street view of the house I grew up in.  I wish I hadn't looked.  When I first checked several years ago, the house looked fine, but this time I was sad to see that the chain link fence was gone, as were the awnings, and the windows were boarded shut and worst of all the lush green yard was now scruffy weedy dirt.  I guess it was a defaulted mortgage.  This was in North Miami, and the house was built in the 50s, when my parents moved out of Washington D.C.  I slaved over that yard for all the years I lived there, I swear my mom thought the yard police were coming to arrest her if the yard wasn't pristine.  We also had 3 huge hedges, all had to be cut back to military perfection, and I had the calluses to prove it.  This was before electric hedge trimmers, I should add.  Maybe the house will eventually be opened again, it is built of cinderblock and the roof is tiled, so sitting for a while won't hurt it, I think.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "I like you but if zombies chase us I'm tripping you."

Test results

I saw my GP doctor last week, and he found some worrisome lab results when he did his routine tests.  I am on antibiotics (which make me feel crappy) and will return on Friday.  I hate waiting like this, it leaves my imagination too much time to churn out nightmares, fueled by all the stuff on the internet.  It could be just an erroneous lab result, I worked as a medical technologist for several years, and I know there are scads of errors made, even with the most OCD of techs.  I will try to be unperturbed until I know more.  Update: The doctor switched me to another antibiotic (which is very very bitter, I might add) and took blood for further analysis.  Still a puzzle to figure out, but not too serious.

It is a beautiful day today, Easter Sunday.  Even though we don't celebrate it, I think it makes a nice boundary between winter and spring (which was its origin, until it was co-opted by the Christians; they didn't approve of the fertility rites).  It may snow later this week, but it won't amount to much, it is far too warm.  All the stores are loaded with candy and baskets and easter grass, thank god my kids are well past that age.  They went to a Catholic elementary school, which was academically great and a little too holier-than-thou about religious training.  They knew our kids were not Catholic (we paid twice the tuition because the parish didn't subsidize it), but there wasn't any overt catechism training, and not much preaching either.  But the Easter celebrations were a little too fixated on crucifixion and rising from the dead, a little macabre for a young child, when you look at it. Just my point of view, as a heathen.

The dogs are once again barking and barking, we go out to check things out (after the raccoon affair several posts back) and there is nothing.  One dog is lying in the sunshine and barking at the sky, what is with that?  Low flying birds?  UFOs?  I dunno.

Bumper sticker for the day, "Chocolate comes from Cocoa which is a tree.  That makes it a Plant.  CHOCOLATE is SALAD!"

Four letter swear word

SNOW.  It snowed last night.  It is only about an inch, but I was so over the winter, so encouraged by the daffodils and crocuses peaking out of the ground.  It should be gone by tomorrow, but today it is just a bitter reminder of this past winter.  I want spring, dammit!

We drove to visit my uncle and aunt on Wednesday.  My aunt is slipping away, physically and mentally, and it is heartbreaking to watch it happen.  Soon my uncle will be unable to cope, and it will mean moving her out of their house.  They have already shut off the upstairs, and live exclusively in the LR, DR, and kitchen.  My aunt was an English teacher at the local high school, and for all of those years she had students and former students dropping by to shoot the breeze with them.  They don't come anymore; just visitors from their church, and a couple of neighbors.  A sad situation all around.  She is in pretty good spirits, although her train of thought is a little unreliable.  I will miss her so.

I got an email from a good friend in Virginia today.  She moved away two years ago, and I miss her still also.  She is very busy with her family and her career, so she doesn't have much time to answer emails these days.  I try not to answer too quickly, putting pressure on her to respond.  I don't think she reads my blog any more, so I can grumble away here without hurting her feelings.  I keep hoping she will move back, but it doesn't sound like a possibility for now.  

I bought a box of disposable gloves to use in here when I fiddle with my fountain pens, one of my better ideas.  Bad enough that the ink stains my fingers, but it gets under my nails where it is nearly impossible to remove.  I read in a fashion magazine (don't as me why I am subscribed to In Style) that the trendy look for nails is dark colors that then are wiped back with remover, to give the appearance of worn off polish.  Heck, I have worn this for years; that is why I sport a french manicure all the time now, so it doesn't look chipped or worn off.  Trend setter, that's me.  I wonder when the fashionistas will follow me in the makeup free face?  No time soon, I'd guess.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "The last time I reached for the stars I pulled a muscle."

Unwanted wildlife

I'm all over finding these furry wild animals appealing   Today we found one of these in the horse stall (luckily the horses were outside and not in the barn).  C tried to shoo it out with a broom, but it kept hissing at him and sidling around to go into the yard.  The dogs went berserk, and as soon as it got in the yard they went for it.  Both dogs (Newfys) got bitten, but the coon got shot by DH.  A call to: the vet; the police; the DNR, as we feel the coon was rabid, to be so bold and aggressive in the day time, and so the dogs went to the vet for a rabies booster.  $200.  Because it was shot in the head, no autopsy is possible, but the assumption is that it was rabid, and so we washed all the blood, etc., with bleach.  And will keep a sharp eye on the dogs for the next two weeks.  Vicious damn animal.  It has been bagged for pickup tomorrow.

Up until then it had been a nice day, sunny and cool, and lots of birds at the feeders.  All the barn has been cleaned, and the laundry is all done, and some knitting is underway.  I think that's it for today, yes?

Bumper sticker for the day:  "I like poetry, long walks on the beach and poking dead things with a stick."

Forgot to post a title...

I went to the ophthalmologist on Monday and as I expected my cataracts are blocking a lot of my vision.  I will have surgery on the left one next month, I have heard it is no big deal, and I am "focused" on that (ho ho).  It will be so great to be able to see clearly again.  Having cataracts, for me, is like seeing through my glasses when they are heavily fingerprinted.  And at night the lights are all starry, not so great for driving, or even riding in a car.  I know there is a small chance of complications, but I am willing to risk it.

I finally changed out the Christmas wreath on the door for the tulip and daffodil one.  And the wind sock went from the snowman to the Easter bunny one.  Now if the weather will continue to cooperate;  March snowfalls are not unknown here.  N saw the first robin yesterday, the first one of the (dare I say it?) spring.

I missed St. Patrick's day this year.  I didn't leave the house that day, so there would not have been anyone to appreciate my greenery.   Years ago, in a microbiology lab, the graduate asst. said, "anyone wearing green today gets 5 extra points on their lab."  I replied, "What am I offered for a pair of slightly worn green socks?"  I was dressed head to toe with green, myself.  No one took me up on it, although I did get a few scowls.  Maybe microbiology attracts grumpy students.  I enjoyed the med tech classes, myself.  Although parasitology taught me to never go to third world countries.  Or if I did go, to never eat or drink anything, never go barefoot, and always to sleep with the windows closed...

When I worked in the physiology lab, my boss was this British woman (who went off her meds frequently, but that's another story).  She went to a scientific meeting in St. Petersburg (Russia).  All the attendees had been told to only drink bottled water while they were there.  But what she found out, later, was that the vendors outside the conference area were refilling bottles in local water and putting on a new cap.  She came home with a Giardia infection, no fun at all.  Usually only occurs here in people who drink "wild" water, from a spring or stream contaminated with wild animal waste.  Myself, I'd rather drink from previously boiled water.  Right out of the saucepan.  Still hot.

Bumper sticker for the day, "Dear Algebra,  Stop asking me to find your X.  She's not coming back."

Pi day

It's pi day!  For those who can't remember high school math, that's 3.1415 and if you are compulsive, that value goes on and on, you could post at 9:26 to get 3 more decimal points.  Me, not so much.  Happy pi day!

Nothing new today, doing laundry and cleaning up the kitchen.  Thank the gods of invention for the washing machine and the dishwasher.  I remember the early days of our marriage, when laundry meant hauling stuff to the apartment laundry room, and staying there with it until it was done, then hauling it all back home.  And dishwashers!  Is there any appliance more valued?  I HATE to wash dishes, I used to swap chores with my sister, if she would take my turn at the dishes, then I did all the rest of her chores (sweep, trash out, yes and laundry too).  When married, we only had the bare minimum of kitchen stuff, 2 plates, one saucepan and one skillet and so on, it wasn't like I could postpone dish washing indefinitely, tho I tried.  The first thing we bought on time was a dishwasher, a Kenmore, it was an absolute work horse.  I have a Kenmore now, and tho it has many more bells and whistles, it still does a dynamite job on the dishes, pots and pans.  That first dishwasher lasted through two moves and zillions of loads.  We have been married 45 years in June, I doubt I would have lasted if I had had to hand wash everything!

The horses have finally been able to get out of the barn for a while.  Blankets off, they carried on a bit when turned out, but nothing too wild, thank goodness.  We have begun giving the older of the two "bute" or the equivalent of horse aspirin, to make him more comfortable as his arthritis progresses.  It's too soon to tell if it is helping, but I've had good results with other geriatric horses.  And if they can get more outside time, they will be happier, I know.

I hope we are all through with below freezing temps, slick roads and treacherous driveways. We are so very tired of trying to keep the steps and the front landing clear, and I am tired of all the mud and snow dirt being tracked in.  For a while we had an indoor-outdoor rug on the landing, but the cats decided it made a dandy place to relieve themselves, so it was back to tile which can be mopped.  Frequently.  What this house needs is a mud room, to leave the groady boots in.

Well this has been one topic after another of cleaning woes.  I chalk it up to spring cleaning fever, but all 6 of you readers are bored to death I am sure.  Therefore, I will end this, and hope that life is treating all of you kindly and that we all will be glad for spring SOON.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Irony - the opposite of wrinkly." 

Frustration

I think I have figured out the setting of "don't track my own traffic". It works fine as long as I use one computer only.  But if I switch back and forth between this pc and my MacBook, it negates that setting.  So all the "Morgantown" in the listing over there ----> is from me.  Drat.  I can't figure out how to delete all the Morgantown listings.

I saw a topic recently from a woman with a particular recipe for something yummy, who was asked for the recipe.  She didn't want to share, as it is her "specialty" for family gathers.  I understand completely.  But my story is a little different.

When we lived in San Francisco, most of our social events were pot luck; everyone brought something to share.  It always kinda irked me at how many people brought the bare minimum (chips) or dessert items, because there was nothing substantial to eat.  One particular event, I didn't have time to fix anything at all, but damned if I was going to cop out with chips.  So I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and bought two big buckets of fried chicken, transferred it to my own pan, and brought it.  There was this one M.D. who had probably never eaten fast food of any kind, who just raved about my chicken and how he wanted my "recipe".  Even weeks later he asked for the recipe, and I couldn't tell him where I got it, because it would have made him look foolish, so for years he bugged me for the recipe.  I don't live there anymore, and I wonder if he ever tried KFC on his own.  Probably not.  But I get a little giggle every time I buy it now to eat. Must have been those 11 herbs and spices.

Thought for the day:  (in honor of Mr. Spock) "Keep calm and phasers on STUN."

Flowers

Here is a photo of the flowers I got for Valentines Day, 10 days ago.  They were from WalMart, and have lasted and even bloomed (the stargazer lilies) since then.  DH took the photo, aren't they lovely?

Bumper sticker for the day:  "I tried cooking with wine, but after four glasses I forgot why I was in the kitchen."

P.S.  I can't get the list of readers over there ----> to stop counting me as a visitor.  It didn't do that before...  oh well.

Where's that damn groundhog??

I am freezing.  We have the furnace on, and we are running six space heaters, and still I sit here all bundled up in a fuzzy throw.  I predict this will be a short post.

I remember a time when I wanted snow.  I grew up in Miami, FL, where they have to shovel sunshine off their driveways.  From there I moved to SC, and I remember lots of rain but only one snowfall. Then I lived in Memphis TN, where any snow in the air was rare enough for everyone to down tools and go for a look.  And lastly, we lived in San Francisco, where you drove to Tahoe, on the far side of Donner Pass, to get snow to play in.  And I remember wanting to live someplace where it actually snowed outside my door.  Oh what foolishness!  I didn't listen to the Florida snowbirds who would try to explain about living in snow country, where you must work and drive everywhere in the worst of weather.  Not sitting at home with your feet to a fireplace sipping hot chocolate.  So I am officially done with snow, ice, 40 mph wind and bundling up just to get the mail.  Do you hear?  ! DONE !

I have almost spent all of my birthday money, and fun it has been.  I didn't spend all of it on yarn, just part of it.  I don't know where else I can put more yarn, but I am thinking about it.  I bought two shirts, and I am in a similar state with clothes as I am with yarn.

Unfinished post, had to retrieve it from the history listings, draft doesn't work.  Will finish tomorrow



I just hate it when the computer just freezes up or (worse yet) shuts down an application for no visible reason.  Usually I don't lose much, but when it comes to a post nearly finished, I'd like to throw the thing out the window.

The shoer was due to come today (it is Saturday the 21st now) to see to the horses' feet, but it is currently snowing hard and there is a forecast for 5 to 8 inches of snow just for today.  Maybe more overnight.  This in addition to the 4 inches already on the ground.  This winter is really getting to me.  I don't like going out when there is snow/ice everywhere because I am afraid of falling (again).  But as a result, this house is getting smaller and smaller every day.  Not much to choose between.

Thought for the day:  "Some people are like slinkies.  They're not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs."

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  We are not going out or doing anything special except staying home and keeping warm.  N did bring me a huge bunch of cut flowers which I love.  Too bad I don't know how to arrange them, other than cutting off the bottom and plunking them in water with the packet of "flower food" that comes with them.  Still they are very pretty.  And the cats are (so far) leaving them alone.  I still have a few left from my birthday, in a cute little vase.  I should check if the VoTech classes include flower arranging.  Along with auto mechanics and pre-pre-nursing students.

The new washing machine is sloshing away, but I turned off the annoying chimes/tune that signaled when the load was done.  I still don't trust it, after the old machine bombed out, so I sit here at the keyboard just across the hall from it, and keep an ear on what is happening with each load.  Eventually I will get more confident of it.  The water was shut down for a while yesterday, and there is still air in the lines which go "pfft pftt" at each faucet, it sounds like a watery explosion, until the air is finally purged.  I'm just glad that I wasn't mid-shower when it went down. 

The knitting has slowed down this week, in deference to nap times.  Even when I try to stay awake all day, it doesn't help me sleep any better that night, and I am even more sleepy the next day.  Once I get started on a piece, I usually get involved enough to finish or nearly so, but right now I have frogged the one mitten I finished, it was too weird to fit an actual human hand.  (frogged = ripped out (rip it rip it rip it))  I did another swatch to check my gauge, and I don't know what I did the first time, because this one measures completely different.  Ah well, guess it is just as well that I don't have to earn a living doing this.

Thought for the day:  "Just because I'm awake doesn't mean I'm ready to do things."

Creeping right along

Sheeesh.  This past day has been a day of catching one stink bug after another.  One landed on my shoulder!  It is so creepy I am sleeping with the light on, and the cat with a proven ability to suss out any stink bug, is sleeping with me.  It isn't enough.  This is because the high today was 61, where the low on last Thursday was one degree.  The bugs love this warm weather, they are very active when they find their way in; when it is cold they seek warm places like lightbulbs, and the kitchen (ick!).  Either way the weird fluctuations in temperature are driving the bugs indoors.

On to a topic of less creepiness~
I have been going through my fountain pens and cleaning any one that is stubbornly dry.  I managed to get ink on my favorite jeans.  They are a faded (but new) red, so of course I couldn't have been wearing blue jeans where the spot of ink would be invisible, oh no.  Rats.  Indelible too.  But the pen writes very well now.

When I was working, I kept a large flowerpot filled with pens on my desk.  Probably 200 pens.  A lot of them were advertising ones that you get for free at various businesses, nothing special.  The rest were any one that wrote especially smoothly, but obviously I couldn't write with all of them, so whenever someone needed a pen, maybe a red ink one, they were welcome to take whatever I had.  I would get kidded a lot about them.  Now that I am home pretty much all the time, the pens that came home with me, languish now there is no one with which to share them.  I also kept a candy jar in the outer office and refilled it regularly for every one to enjoy.  Now I buy "treats" and although they get eaten with surprising speed, it doesn't feel the same.  Retirement changes a lot of things, things I never thought it would.  But still I am thankful I did retire, even though I was a mere 55 at the time.

I took the day off knitting to tidy up my knitting place, and put away the yarn I bought.  Yes, I know, I have yarn I haven't even touched in several years, but it gives me a lot of pleasure to get new yarn.  Anyway, I got it all squared away, sat down to admire it, and there beside the light was a stink bug.  I grabbed for it with a tissue and it evaded me, and the ensuing search took about an hour before it was dispatched with prejudice.  A swimming lesson for the bug.  But searching for the thing messed up my careful organization, and so tomorrow I will be re-re-arranging stuff.

But I did get the bathroom cleaned ~ N scrubbed the shower, bless him, it kills my knees to do it.  I hate to nag about it, but I also hate soapy and toothpaste-y stuff, and thus the 
need to do this regularly.  Years ago, before retirement, I had for many years had a cleaning service that came every two weeks to dust, vacuum, scrub, change sheets, do windows, and so on.  There would generally be 3 or so of them, and they would fly through it all, and because they came all the time, the house never got dirty.  I cancelled it when I was home full time, but now I am thinking of having them come and do a "spring" cleaning just to catch it up.  I'll have to think about it.  Whether the job would be worth the hassle.

One of the things in the master bath is this gigantic whirlpool tub, easily 6 feet long inside.  We had it put in when we built the bathroom, thinking it would be a big help in keeping me pain-free.  I have read that homeowners no longer put these in a new bath, because they turn out to not be used very much.  But I use ours a lot, candles (electric), music, bubble bath.  I guess the "youngsters" don't have time to relax this way ~ their loss.

Thought for the day:   "A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it."

Birthday

Do I look older?  I thought so.

Birthday gifts included a gift card from DH for ebay.  I am finding it interesting, the items I am considering ~ since I am not spending "my" money on it.  Of course, it is all the same money, really, but I am enjoying picking and choosing.  All yarn so far, of course.  There is a topic on the knitting board about how a yarn stash is organized.  Mine is, plastic tubs, newest on top.  No other criteria, so if I want, say, bulky yarn, I must go through   a lot of bins to find it.  But that is OK with me, part of the reason I buy what I do is the feel of it, fuzzy or silky or whatever.

The temp outside today is 17 so far today, but there is a little blue sky trying to get through with a bit of sunshine.  I am in favor.  I think tomorrow is predicted to be warmer, we shall see.

My laptop MacBook has a shiny new battery, the old one just would not hold a charge more than 2 hours.  I think I have replaced it once already, but after all, the thing is 10 years old.  I upgraded the OS too, so it is running more smoothly and faster as well.    I could retreat to the desktop downstairs, but after a while I get claustrophobic down there, it is a tiny little room.  I would get a new MacBook if I could justify spending $1000+ for a shiny toy.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "My exercise routine consists of doing Diddly Squats."