I Think

I hope I can go hanging on to my independence...

I am working to make my place as easy for an old person to inhabit as I can. Even though we can walk very well, I am going to finish installing a wheelchair ramp over the next few weeks.

That is an investment you will really appreciate when the time comes for one of you to need it.

Don't forget grab bars in the bathroom, both in and outside the shower/tub and near the toilet. You may also need raised toilet seats eventually. I also moved all our dishes and cookware down from the top shelves and up from the bottom shelves in the cabinets. The one thing we did not do that is needed now is raising the height of chairs with thicker cushions and replacing casters on dining chairs with stationary endcaps to prevent them from rolling when attempting to stand.

I have experience with grab bars, at the apartments, and I agree with you. Already, we keep the dishes and stuff at an easily reachable level. Maybe we are just lazy. I plan to go through all the lower cabinets and such and move out or even throw away lots of junk we saved for years without ever needing. On the job, when I find abandoned walkers, crutches and the like, I keep the best ones. I brought home a beautiful cane a while back. I just put up a new gate to slow down late night trespassers. Not that it would affect the determined. The toilet sits very low and I intend to get a higher one.

Another reason for the wheelchair ramp is to make it easy to move heavy stuff in and out by dolly.

It's wise to think ahead...makes transitioning easier. We're in the process of selling our home. It's a waste of space and energy. I don't go upstairs except to clean...that's just plain ridiculous. I want a smaller one level home.

I never wanted a house with stairs. Our porch is just 3 feet high, but that can be an insurmountable plateau for a bad pair of legs.

At the time we bought this house we thought it was a good investment. Now that the housing market has changed we're hoping(fingers crossed) for a good return. My husband had a DVT ( blood clot) a couple of years ago and is now on blood thinners(and will be for life). I have to constantly remind him that certain things are no longer safe to do...even though he gets a bit irritated at me. One day I came home and he was on a ladder with a chainsaw contraption trimming a humongous bush (we call it the devil bush)...wow! That's safe right? I managed to convince him to hire someone to clip it. We really need a small yard too..

One of my winter projects is to get my back yard into a manageable state. I am cleaning out root systems of lots of really bad plants.

Sounds like a big project. We have to dig up some bushes that have either died or look like they're going to. We're having to really focus on curb appeal for the sale. I hope it's not too cold where you live and the yard project goes smoothly.

It will be mostly nice out there. But we are having a little freezing just now.

It will be a tough week for me, if I let it be. Tomorrow is the lead man's last day and the helper is slow as ice cold molasses. I will do my work and go home at twelve. But they will call me back for any emergencies and I am certain they will want me to take after hours calls. Plus, the weather is going to be miserable. Oh, well. I signed up for it. No use complaining.

Just say no when you need to. Your energies are not as limitless as their tendacies to take advantage of them.

I told the boss last time I talked to her that I cannot do the man's job, but will do what I can. She has interviewed several times, does not like the field of candidates.

Yesterday the boss said she will employ a temp to do maintenance, until she finds a suitable soul. I told her I want to be there when he arrives. Last time, we had a guy doing work orders by telling the people there was nothing wrong, in every case, because he really didn't know how to do the job. He couldn't do a simple toilet repair. Before we turn this one loose, I want to know if he's the genuine article.

As it turned out, I ended doing the lead man's job all week, because the management company was too cheap to buy us any help. I stuck with my 4 hour days, but was there all five days. They have a man they want, but it is likely to be a couple of weeks before he starts, if he actually gets hired. I also have to answer after hours emergency calls, for a week, beginning tonight. I guess the seventies are the new thirties.

Cooking breakfast this AM, talking to it in a pirate's voice. Turning the sausages, "Arrr. Ye like me ye really like me. God dam right I do." Belay the bilge. Time to eat.

The media and law enforcement - salivating at the thought of violence in Ferguson.

Walking the fence line today, I looked at some red berries, hanging from vines that clung to the wooden pickets. There once was a bigger such vine in the virtual same spot, about ten years ago. More than once, in the late autumn or in winter time, I witnessed dozens of birds descend to eat the berries, in a matter of minutes, leaving the vines naked and frazzled looking. And I took note of the fact that the birds no longer come here to do that. When I came to work here, over twenty three years ago, one of my great pleasures was to watch the streams of migrating birds, day after day, it seemed. I watched the sky at every opportunity, with wonder and pride. But it has come to pass, gradually and unnoticeable at first, but now a reality that can't be ignored or refuted, that only stragglers pass by here anymore. I don't have a way of knowing how many rerouted themselves to bypass our unbridled progress, or died off. I only wish I could see them in such numbers again.