Bittersweet

   This is a bittersweet time of life.

   It is bitter because...

   ...my colon cancer has made my belly ache hard to take much too often,  Little knife blades stick me in my tummy.

   ...my charming tablemate, whose company made meals a pleasant experience, is in the hospital in a coma. My cardplaying buddy, 87, with whom I played our silly kid's game of Rummy every single night, fell in the shower, broke his hip and is also in the hospital.

   ...my neurothesia has reached my hands and made typing hard to manage,  Writing is my escape, my job, my hobby, and it is growing increasingly hard to do.

But it is a sweet time too because...

   ...I am surrounded by friends and family who understand and support me, comfort me, and do the things for me that I can no longer do.  This old folks home is the place to be when you can no longer do for yourself.

   ...I still sleep well, albeit in four hour periods between visits to the bathroom, and escape the pain for eight hours a day.

   ...It is a time of remembrance and reflection of my life.  It has been a full life.  It has handed me the best and worst life has to offer.  I have had delightful companions and raised wonderful children. I have swum in two oceans and walked on two continients. I have piloted my owh airplane, captained my own boat, driven cars, trucks, tanks, and motocyles. I have never been without food or shelter. But I have been blown up, crippled, divorced, hospitalized, arrested and jailed. I have been a hero and a pariah. I have had the best and worst of life.

   This is a bittersweet time.  Life is (was) worth living.

Tags: Swan song

Weekend Blahs

  You've heard of the Monday Blues. Well, that comes up in a couple of days.  What we have now at the old folks home is the weekend blahs.

   The Activity Director is off for the weekend.  So is the regular staff.  Even Bingo is called by a substiture.

   What we need is a lttle imagination to perk up the weekend.  Any suggestions?  My own suggestions would only get us in trouble.

P.S.  Suggestions so far...Stinkbomb in activiity room  REJECTED and quiz game, or raffle of unusual itrems, or picnic.  ALL GREAT IDEAS

Thanks folks

 

Hot and Cold

   I sure run hot and cold in my journal keeping.  I posted entries in Dribble for six days straight, and then nothing for four.

   I have a belly-ache that stays with me for hours, and my Chevy Astro van had a battery-ache that needed attention. Poor old Chevy sat so long unattended that the battery went dead, completely. Also it became so dirty that it looked like a lump of clay.  By coincidence a guy with a portable car wash came along do someone else's car and I snagged him.  He washed the car in place since we couldn't move it. It looked magnificent.  He spent two hours cleaning it up.

   And a friend of a friend is mechanical enough to remove the battery, recharge it, replace it, and start the car. His only problem was that the car had sat in one spot so long that a Black Widow spider had built a nest in the engine compartment.  Getting rid of the spider took time too.  You don't mess with those ladies. The mechanical friend hates spiders.

   That is enough whining, Angie will get turned off.

Tags: Payton's water, Black Widow spider, Astro Van, bellyache

Food Shortage

   PEOPLE SAY there is going to be a food shortage.  They also say prices are going to go sky-high.  However, my latest trip to the market found things that I buy are the same price as usual -- or less.  I hope that continues.

   My General Foods International Orange Cappuccino,, my self-indulgent treat to myself, stays the same ghastly $4.85 for a 10 ounce can. What that comes to per cup I have no idea, nor do I dare figure it out, for fear that I would give it up if I knew.  My store brand raisin bran muffins were the same $4.29 for four.  I eat one per day, so I can afford that.

   But three things were cheaper.  Limes have been 25 cents each for a long time are now 10 cents each. That is a remarkable drop percentage-wise. The 10 cent limes are hard little green lumps with no taste, but maybe a spell in a paper bag will soften them up some.

   Avocados had been $2.00 each. Well, $1.99 actually...nothing is priced in even dollars.. And the crop was sitting on the shelf so long they were getting gooshy, The new crop is less,, $1.67, and they are firm and fresh.

   Store brand mayonnaise on sale is $2.09 per quart, compared to $4.85 for Best Foods Brand.

   Mind you, I live in an old folks' home and they feed us, I don't need any of this stuff.  But shopping is something to do, so I indulge myself, and call it my "entertainment allowance".

   If food prices do sky-rocket in the near future, I will have to change my hobby to bird watching or 99 cent store cruising.

Tags: food shsortage

Turnabout is Fair Play

Mrs E and Mrs L are constant companions, but none of us other residents can understand why. It seems to us that Mrs L would eventually kill Mrs E.

Mrs E constantly berates, nags, and scolds Mrs L.   Mrs L, through stroke or advanced age has lost most of her expressive speech and is somewhat confused. But Mrs L seeks Mrs. E’s company. She’ll walk into Mrs E’s room.

Mrs E: Good Lord, you scared the pee out of me. What do you want? Why do you walk in like that? Do you think I want to be scared? If I wanted to be scared I would look for a roller coaster. What do you want?

Mrs. L: Come on.

Mrs E: Come on where? Where do you want to go? Why don’t you say where we are going? Tell me.

Mrs. L: Down there.

Mrs E: Down where. Speak. Tell me where down there is. Am I supposed to guess? Jabber, jabber. All you do is jabber. I don’t know what you are saying.

…and it goes on like this for hours. It is a strange symbiotic relationship. Mrs E needs to scold, and Mrs L needs to be scolded.

Mrs L comes to breakfast but Mrs E likes to sleep in and have her morning coffee in her room.

Mrs E sent Mrs L to fetch her coffee this morning.

Mrs E: Go get me a cup of coffee.

Mrs L was going down the hall with a cup in her hand and Mrs E was standing in her doorway waiting. Halfway down the hall Mrs L stopped, holding the cup, looking confused. Mrs. E waited a moment, then grew impatient and stormed down the hall in her nightgown to where the bewildered Mrs L was standing.

Mrs E: Where’s my coffee? This is empty. I asked for a cup of coffee and you brought me a coffee cup.

Tags: Life in the old folks' home

Rare Whine

   If I whine rarely it is times like this when a whine is in order.  I've done it again: spent an hour carefully typing an entry with quotes and tabs and fussy spellings.  And then erased it all with a careless keystroke.

   I am swearing too, as well as whining. 

My Dog Spot

I am amused by things that are named for something they are NOT. A television salesman used to include his dog in his commercials. His dog was named Spot. Of course, Spot was a German Shepard and didn’t have spot on him. He was called Spot because he was spotless.

Even more amusing are the people who don’t “get it”. They look at the dog and say incredulously, “He hasn’t got any spot.” Right. It’s a joke. See?

My parents lived on a rural road which was often used by thoughtless people who wanted to get rid of their pets. They would drive along, see my parents’ place and say, “Here. These people look like they will take care of you. OUT.” And they would dump their pets on the roadside, leaving them to find someone who would care for them. And my parents did. They had several pets who arrived that way.

A pair of unwanted kittens who grew to cat-hood being loved by my parents were named This-one and That-one.. Worked well enough but I don’t remember if they knew their own names.

Later another orphan arrived and my mother looked in the encyclopedia to see what breed she was. It said, “Common Domestic Shorthair“. So that kitten became Common. That worked too because it was fun to say, “Come on, Common.”. That’s pronounced “Common Common”.

A Collie named Gale, not Gail, arrived the same way. They also had a Boxer named Bouncer. Another waif was Ittybit. Ittybit is baby talk for Little Bit, and Ittybit was tiny when she landed on the roadside near Parent’s gate.

My daughter and her husband got a Pit Bull puppy as the family pet. Knowing that Pit Bulls have a bad reputation they wanted the most benign name they could think of. The considered Blossom but settled on Possum. For a couple of years Possum lived up to her name and was the calmest cutest pet one could want. Then she started growling at the children in the family. Possum came to me. Possum and I got along well together, and I always felt safe in the car when she was along. It was like having a loaded gun on the seat beside you. When strangers approached the car, Possum’s growl would warn them not to touch the car or me.

Having a Pit Bull is like having a loaded gun. It is protection but it is an awful responsibility You don’t know what might set it off. Possum with the benign name eventually had to be put to sleep because she became vicious. A vicious dog with a sweet name is a joke, but not one to laugh at.

Naming things for something they are not is fun. If I had a Mexican Hairless I would call him “Harry”. (Hairy-- get it?) And one fond memory is of the lady who had the tiniest Chihuahua in the world with a squeaky little bark. His name?

Killer.