Indian summer lunch

I feel it's been a pretty great day all things considered. Sunshine, direct and warm, complimented me most of the day though I was not outside in the sunshine like I was yesterday. I really did not have to do any massive traveling. In fact I almost forgot to do what was the major thing I had going for the day and that was a lunch with my buddy Duane. We made it very instance earlier in the week almost on the Fly for today for lunch. I thought about the lunch a couple times during the week especially when we texted just to make sure that we are still up for the event and what we wanted to enjoy during the lunch. I always feel a little spooky doing this because Duane usually purchases the lunch, although I try but always lose out- - maybe I'm not trying hard enough it's hard to say. And again as I've stressed in the past it's not the lunch or what it is as much as it is getting together and being able to visit. Today we elected to stay outside in the sunshine not far from my building. The sun felt good on my face I didn't realize it but I've worn a black watch Cap all day long no one said anything so I really haven't remembered that it's still on my head. That of course locks the heat in and I don't feel chilly or cold especially with the direct sunshine. My friend is great because he answers me and advises  that the current crisis that's affecting this country- in world for that matter - - it's just silly stuff promulgated by silly people. He is certainly frustrated as I am but it doesn't show as much with him as the events do me. The meal must cost for me 10 to $15 when you add in the sandwich, the Dr Pepper and the potato chips and possibly they all come as one deal. I hope so I have a surprise when looking at some of the prices while trying to figure out what sandwich I wanted. It's flat out robbery especially for a cold sandwich. Like I wrote earlier I no longer volunteer to pay for my half of the lunch. You seems to want to do it and I'm not going to fight him for that privilege.

It's almost 8:00 p.m. the Utah Jazz should be tipping off the ball with that. Of time for the next game. This is a late game so I doubt that it'll even be over by 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. I'm going to watch the first part of the game and see what happens. Whoever the last couple of games have been somewhat frustrating in that the Jazz have substantial leads that they lose and then lose the game by 2 or 3 points. I don't know if I'm tough enough to be a jazz supporter already kind of athletic supporter for that matter… I couldn't help it LOL

 

thoroughly Thursday

 Today was one of those pristine fall days, clear skies plenty of sunshine no wind speak of the perfect day for traveling. After coffee this morning that's the Thursday coffee group I decided I would head into the city and go to my old workplace where they are having the annual Halloween function/party. I as a rule have not gone to a lot of these functions. I don't know particularly why but today it seemed like something I should do. I will be there again for another party in less than a month when I play Santa Claus at the regular Christmas function but that's still quite a ways off. I think I really went more for the food than anything else they usually have some simple kind of food you know sloppy joes maybe pizza depending on the event. The Halloween function started at 12:00 noon and would go on till about 3:00. I had to take two buses to get there that's okay I had to figure that in it's a nice day good for traveling.

That was astounded when I got there how many people were there and this huge line one had to endure to get to the food which was laying out on a table fresh from the cooking area. Bella Fair this year was meatballs, sausages in sauce and chips of course. Small individual bags of chips, functional and sanitary. I didn't mind the line I was sitting down. Again I cannot emphasize how many people were there and how many people were in line to get fed. Of course it being Halloween costumes were encouraged and there were many many costumes to be seen. I went as a hobo that's the most simple. I usually just wear a black shirt with a white collar and call myself a priest that works too it's minimal effort. Of course by the time I finally got my food it was quite cold but that was to be expected I had I have a low bar expectation. Staff who remembered me or knew me were quite impressed that I showed up and I think quite happy as well. It really was to a degree of coming home event. There are a number of old work buddies there from when I was there one of them being Julie whose office was next to mine in the old building actually in the new building as well now that I think about it. So Julie, another staff member, Julie's husband Kevin and I all hung out at the table and had lunch together it was kind of nice. We wish that Kim could have joined us he was the thi q1rd part of our group it seemed like back in the old days. But he's like very high up in the echelons of Direction at the center so he had to work to maintain some form of control to the chaos of the Halloween function. I hung around till about 3:00 p.m. when the event was officially over. I didn't really help put anything away or anything like that just talked with a few more folks and actually met the new director who is now basically the director his newness has worn off. He gave me his card and we plan to get together soon he wants to know what I know and I don't blame him..

Working Wednesday

Wednesday's have become very busy days for me if nothing more than two events washing the clothes as well as working out on the arm bike for an hour. This is like 2 hours at least in the middle of the day add that to the one day of the week that's usually the food box day. It makes for a lot of waiting and just getting through the day. So that's what today was and I'm beginning to wonder how much I'm really needed for the food box function because I really don't do anything. I crabbed a lot about the fact that I would have a hard time doing the food box at 8:00 since I'm in the middle of my program at that point in time. But then somehow they moved the time and everybody who was supposed to do the food box that wasn't doing the food box when I volunteered to do it has started doing it again and I'm just sort of sitting out on my thumb looking kind of dumb but really that's okay because my whole goal was to make sure we didn't lose the food box at resource cuz I really think it's a great resource for not only folks here at the building but for me. I don't get a food box but I certainly take advantage of a lot of people who don't want a lot of the stuff in their food box. I hope that's not as confusing as I thought that I heard. I'm just always amazed at how weird Pride is as far as it really messing up a lot of programs as well as people. Like I said I don't care if I do the project or not I just don't want to lose the service of the food boxes. And I was just not have to do if I don't me too so I guess I would like to know if I really am needed for the project- which I don't think I am- - or do I need to still concern myself about showing up on the day that it is the food box day and hanging around helping anybody it might need some help I didn't know lifting boxes or being told when to do something it really is kind of strange. Even with everything I've said I still haven't finished my day yet and I doubt that I'm going to get anything more done on it except getting ready for bed. Usually I try to get the clothes as soon as they're done drying take him back to the apartment, fold   the shorts and hang the shirts that's when I figure I'm done with the wash and I haven't even started that part of it yet. I think I might just wait till tomorrow at this juncture. I have coffee early on and then I still have 20 minutes to do on my barn bike or maybe 30 minutes. Today is going to be kind of warm and I think if I do anything over the weekend it might be tomorrow which is only Thursday.

 

Cold nights and AI paranoia

 I had my Tuesday morning to myself as you will remember. The assist team is gone to do a Good Samaritan volunteer job somewhere so no meeting today. Fortunately for me I was able to use that time to finish my November letter mail out project! That's great to have that behind me. Cuz I worked on the project a little bit yesterday all I had to do was to print the letters fold and stuff as well as sign letters. I think I had the envelopes already done that was done yesterday or maybe even Sunday actually. I had a little problem getting started the printer didn't want to use the paper that I was using I guess, in all honesty I think the papers I was using to print on I had the ends bent up which caused the paper to jam so I spent a lot of time opening up the printer and taking the the jammed paper out but eventually I got the letters printed. Ink seems to be holding its own I think I will order in another cassette of ink and however just so I didn't get caught with my pants down- so to speak. The temperature dropped significantly during the night. I was warm and toasty but I think Gardens all around the valley bought it. It was in the low 30s. It was cold outside the one or two times I went out going back and forth to the mailboxes. I also took an hour during the day to do my arm bike so now I just have one more hour to do tomorrow and I'll have my almost 200 minutes in for the week. So I'm coming right along on that but it does take an hour out of my day if not more. So that pretty much took up my whole day. Of course I rewarded myself for having been so focused on the letters that I watched a series on Loki. I have seen the series before but I sure like it. I finished the first season and I started the second luckily there's only been two seasons of Loki perhaps it's best.

I don't know how I did it but for some reason my smaller heater has stopped working. I even had Melissa look at it and she couldn't get it going and she gets everything going. I still have the big heater that Jennifer let me use when the heat went out of the building a few years ago. It just sort of stays here and I love to use it when I have to but I should order in one or two new heaters and give this one back.

I am still vexed at AI. I don't trust it at all but I think that I'm using it more than I think that I am. I think I've talked about it before about correcting the mistakes in my writing and stuff. It took me awhile before I realized that when machine does this it really is a form of AI analyzing what I've written and showing me the mistakes that I've made and I'm okay with that- - but should I be? I mean over my life punctuation punctuation and grammar has always been my weak spot. The AI points that out and even just fixing the underlying spaces underlined words really makes a difference in the product. I don't necessarily like that but that is the plague I guess. I don't think we'll ever be friends however and have any in depth heart to hard drive pieces of communication…

Monday's muses

 Fortunately for me I do not have my assist,inc meeting tomorrow. The staff have taken off and gone somewhere to do some sort of Good Samaritan work as a team building exercise for the staff. This works for me as I'm in the middle of my monthly letter writing project. I had a little problem with my computer today so I wasn't able to get as far along as I would have liked. For some reason the envelopes are trying to address kept jamming up the printer. I stuck it out however and finally got all the envelopes addressed. I basically have the letters dictated now I just have to go into the print phase which at this juncture I hope to have done tomorrow. I will use the time that I would have spent traveling and attending the meeting at Assist.Inc This afternoon I had to go across the street and purchase more stamps. I typically purchase a book of stamps at a time this usually lasts at least through two mail-outs. So maybe I'm okay now till the first of the year. I'm hoping I will not run into any more obstacles tomorrow and maybe have the letters completed and then the outbox tomorrow night to be picked up on Wednesday morning. With any luck the kids at least some of the kids will get their Letters by the 1st of November.

I have just about finished the chili that I made last week. It's really been great to have so much food to use at any time. I mean I'll have to do is go to the refrigerator and pull out the chili put a couple spoonfuls in paper bowl microwave and there's dinner it really added a lot more to the meal when I finish the cornbread. In the interim I have purchased a couple more cans of chili to have for backup. Even though it wasn't that hard to make the chili the process is really quite a production, at least for me. My kitchen is still not recovered. My next project I think is to maybe do a Crock-Pot meatloaf. I didn't know how to do that but I saw somewhere on the internet that indeed one could and this person used a larger crock pot to achieve this meal. I'd also like to consider some other larger cooking projects that the larger Crock-Pot could handle. Possibly some roasts, stews another heavy meat based products. I've hardly used the larger Crock-Pot over the years. Now I think I'll give it a run for its money and see how glorious meals I can make.

I'm pretty excited about not having my meeting tomorrow I'm working on my letter project. The inclement weather is supposed to move on however cold front is what pushed it out this morning and the Mercury is to drop significantly tonight say goodbye to your vegetable garden Elsie it's going to get cold. All I can deal with a hurricane like Melissa that's another battled entirely..

Sunday salutations

 This may be a short blog so if it stops right in the middle of a sentence or word you'll know that the battery gave out and it's not the batteries fault it's my fault I just cannot seem to keep a charger that sticks in with the device. I thought sure I had my device being charged all day and I didn't check so tonight I've only got 33% charged to work with. So be aware, this entry might be a short one.

  Sunday morning and of course the storm  predicted earlier last week made a change in court and so there was no rain to speak of just some clouds and a bit chillier. I actually wore a right blanket over to the coffee shop this morning for the usual Sunday morning breakfast. Quite a shock today when I got there and the place was locked up. There were people in there just workers however not staff and no customers. The sign on the door said they were making some physical changes to the property and that they would be around for next week but today was a no-show, no go. You gave me one of those Twilight Zone feelings you know everything is just the same except just one little thing is off and today it was breakfast. I ran into the kids out in the parking lot and we decided we'd go over to the Wendy's with shares that parking lot with our restaurant. I've been thinking about doing fast foods instead of a full-blown sit-down breakfast for the last couple of months. I think we all looked forward to doing the quick food/ fast food agenda we just didn't know quite how to do it. I know it's not rocket science but it is different than the sit down at a table restaurant and the waitress comes to you. Marcus running a little bit late so it's just me and the kids we got coffee and the table and eventually even Mark Anthony did get there we got our coffees. I don't think the coffee was any better than what we get at Dee's. Mark joined us soon after we got our coffee then we started gabbing as usual about the usual things. Like how good is Russia and how outlandish had the current POTUS done anything crazy this week. And of course, the POTUS has son of which was totally stupid. Not long after this event the waitress showed up again and took orders. It was kind of interesting it seemed to take a minute but eventually our orders came out. I got a pretty much an Egg McMuffin which was decent I'm glad I had the coffee to wash it down however. Fortunately for me the kids picked up my breakfast this morning that's somewhat rare. We had quite a good discussion this morning about things that I might need in the pantry going into the winter. The only items I really need that I'm using right now is couple more bottles of V8 juice hot and spicy. I also need to get 5 or 10 cans of whole jalapeno peppers and a couple more cans of jalapenos whole and sliced. The clouds moved in and the day got perceptibly colder. I came in and worked on letters for a while then watched items on Netflix

Eyeglasses and kid letters

 The only thing I really had planned today was to get the bus up to Walmart and get my eyeglasses repaired. I can't remember if I noted the other day that the lens has started falling out of my eyeglasses, my new pair! This is so frustrating because I got the new pair specifically because the lens fell out of my other pair which was almost new at the time because I inadvertently rolled over them one morning. The frames were bent just enough that the lens would not stay inside the frame. I specifically got the new glasses at the Walmart because it's just up the street from where I live so I figured it would be convenient and it was. I would not have been surprised had they put up a struggle- - I tend to have that kind of luck- but sure enough after a few minutes' wait they were really busy, they went right to work on my glasses, put the new lens in and tighten it down tight. At least it seems to be that's in there pretty tight we shall see the next couple days to see him the lens stays in place. Nothing drives me crazier than one lens and one lens out. I have to go around with one eye closed makes me feel like a pirate yo ho ho.

I started the kid letters today. I don't know why but it was very difficult for me to get going on the letter project this month. It just seemed I kept thinking of other things I could be doing and they weren't really even productive things like settling in for a Marvel movie or some other mindless crap on netflix, Prime or Disney Plus. Luckily, late afternoon I finally got myself into such a position but I could write the letters. I got two letters written so I just have a four or five left. I have course still have the envelope to print and I should have gotten stamps today that's what I forgot. I still have to get a book of stamps and I should order in another cartridge of ink since I'm now on my last cartridge. That cartridge is new so I should be able to get to this letter writing episode and maybe even December's. But like I said it's nice to have the backup so I'm not caught inkless when I really need the ink most. This has nothing really to do with the kid letters but I'm having to decide whether or not to get the new version of Windows or whatever it is that I need to get since they're stopping the support of the old version- I think it's windows I'm not really sure. I will leave that up to Mark Anthony see if he can figure out what I'm going to need. I have my desktop so I pretty much use as a printing base and I guess somewhat of a storage device as well for letters and stuff that I've written. I don't know if I ever want to get another new desktop system everything I do I use my tablet. If I were to get another full computer it would be a sleek laptop. I kind of envy people when I see him pull the laptop out of there backpack or whatever. I need to be careful what I wish for however because the one thing that worries me most about having a sleep laptop is is it sturdy enough to survive my lifestyle. I kind of don't think that if would be but will never knows that would be fun to be able to pull out my Sleek a little laptop and play around with the system

Tommy

This is an image of Tommy. He was on the bus this afternoon as I got on to head home from the credit union. I never recognized him when I run into him usually on the bus. He presents himself very well for a person with a really significant intellectual disability. He always flashes me a big smile and sometimes a handshake and I usually respond accordingly. I don't know if he rides the bus every single day I don't know if he goes to a specific place like a job setting or other kind of project or program. I do know he writes a lot and he spends a lot of time visiting with various bus drivers. He's really not supposed to as far as engaging with significant conversations with the driver and Tommy is aware of this as are the drivers but I really see any of them really pushing the don't talk to the driver reminder. Actually the last two times I've seen him today and earlier last week it seemed like he was paying more attention to the stand behind yellow line that he used to. I don't know if he's been reprimanded or what but he certainly more focused than it used to be. I don't think I really appreciated Tommy at first. Many times from on the bus I really don't want to engage with conversation with anyone but Tommy likes to talk to as many people as he can. I think it's fairly intuitive and can read when a person doesn't want to communicate with him as usual any backs off and leaves them alone and I really appreciate that. This afternoon after I recognize Tommy and we both said hello and asked how we were doing that was it. He was in the seat next to me or to my wheelchair spot but he is also up and down looking like he was going to talk to the driver off and on and only speaking with him once that I saw. He was at the front of the plus when I got off patted my shoulder when I got off the ramp and he was gone when the bus pulled out back in his spot just behind the yellow line making sure not to bother the driver …

 

One strong robot please

 

More than once I've be-moaned the issue that 4 days of the week I must stressed myself. On the other three days I have Home Health person coming in and showering me and such and then dressing me for the rest of my day. Usually it's not a big deal the four days and I get by pretty well but I've noticed recently that it's getting more and more difficult for me to cross my legs to be able to put on my shorts that's all I have to do. Well, I always try put on my tennis shoes at the same time that's just one less thing I end up having to do. I shouldn't focus on that as much as I tend to do. This morning was just such an event. Thursday morning that means it's coffee morning when the apartment complex has a coffee group and I like to attend. The event starts at 9:30 a.m. last for about an hour usually. I sort of messed around too much this morning since I first got up but not enough it should have made the difference. I just couldn't get my right leg up high enough to cro  ss my me on the other leg. I did eventually get enough of my foot across the need to allow me to lift up my foot enough to slide my shorts on that one leg. There is no way I was going to be able to get the leg over enough to get my shoe on. I did not have that issue with the other leg. That leg lifted right up and then crossed my leg allowing me to finish put my shorts on and then my tennis shoe. After which I threw my leg back down to the footrests on my power chair. I was minorly surprised when I was able to actually lift my hips up and slide my shorts up over my hips and then allowing me to button up said shorts. I need to have anything else planned for the day thank goodness. I ended up going to the coffee group with one shoe on and one shoe off no one mentioned my shoeless foot. I have a total belief that if I have one shoe on everyone thinks I have a great reason for not having the other shoe on. They just accept the fact that I'll have one shoe for the day and they don't care. I got involved with the rest of my life for the rest of the morning and afternoon and then it was too late to actually try to put my shoe on the day was basically over. Had I thought about it or had I been more committed I would have tried to wrestle my foot back up over my knee to see if I could get that shoe on but it didn't make much sense today. I know this is a minor thing to worry about but in my finite mind it is just one more thing that indicates that I'm on the decline as far as my independent ability to do successful activities of daily living. I like to blame my chair as you heard me do a million times but sometimes I think there might be something other Happening Here then just my chair getting in the way of my living. I spoke to one of the people in the group tables that I was sitting at about how I was keeping an eye on the new groups of robots coming out of China. How I'd like to get one or if not get one to own just to see if have I had something like that would it allow me to be more independent I mean help me do things like get my shoe on or lift me on and off the toilet. It seems if I had one of these robots my Independent Living problems or a good portion of them would be evaporated..

Wednesdays Witness

I start getting nervous but I get into the last third or quarter of any book that I'm currently reading. As you know, I read every evening before I go to bed even if it's just for 20 or 30 minutes I just like to read those letters which form words and the magic of having the pages come to life for a few minutes before I start tumbling into sleep. I start getting nervous because I'll soon not have anything to read at least anything to read that's new. I really enjoyed this volume I'm currently reading by Leanne Moriarty. I can't remember how I got turned on to her but she's a good writer at least the story I'm reading now is really intriguing but it's soon going to end and I'm excited because this morning I dropped the hammer and ordered the next volume. I don't think it's going to be as good as this novel was. I'd be totally surprised and I hope I'll be surprised. If she's just half as good I'll be pleased I think she's going to be riding about something like hypnosis or the main character uses hypnosis first one reason or another I'm totally fascinated though about how it could be part of a novel and we'll see. I kind of hate ordering things in anymore I have had so many credit cards and lost so many that have had to stop payment on but I'm totally confused about what's current and what is not. The good thing is if I tried to pay for something that's not but the current card it'll let me know, of course that means I'll have to start the process all over again with the card I know it will work. And that means it's just going to take that much time further to get here. Us please this morning to have who or whatever is involved in taking my credit card or debit card information and supposedly the order went right through which means I should get the book sometime next week hopefully. I have a few pages left on the current novel and I could stretch them out I suppose by just reading one page at night but I don't think I'd be able to do that. Worst case scenario is that I finish the current volume then just have to reread some of the other books I have kicking around here or go through and find my favorite Parts in those books and reread those sort of like what I do with watching the Marvel movies over and over again or select parts of those movies. They just never get old. Interestingly, my daughter does that too but she'll read complete books but she can do that in one sitting where I cannot.

Remember the chili I made earlier this week? Well I'm still eating on the chili but something's missing took me awhile to figure it out but I would love some cornbread to eat with my chili. I spent half a day searching my collection of cans and other items cuz I thought sure I had a can of cornmeal kicking around I could not find one so today I settled up and went across the street to the market and found a cute little 1 lb bag of cornmeal. I was going to make cornbread tonight but just lost or ran out of energy. Maybe tomorrow. I'm fairly sure I have all the ingredients it's not really a whole lot but if I'm lucky tomorrow night I'll have fresh cornbread to have with my homemade chili…

 

Two meeting Tuesday

I had two meetings today back to back in fact I have to mandate that they I had two meetings today back to back in fact I have to mandate that they short and one meeting so I could take off and grab the bus to get to the next meeting in time actually I didn't mandate I basically told him I had to leave and then they shortened meeting which was good because we only had six folks to approve and sign documents which got me out of there pretty quickly but just great because I made my bus and made it over to the next meeting with significant time to spare I was totally surprised. It was a good day for traveling I'll be in a little chilly but it's that time of the year. The sun shined and there isn't the cloud in the sky at least while I was out and traveling.

The second meeting that I went to was the UCAT Advisory Board, The Advisory board for the Utah Center for assistive technology. I may have spoken to this board before but essentially it's a volunteer board made up of individuals to have an interest in and are who use assistive technology or AT. I really don't know how long I've been a member of this board I know it was way before covid maybe even the turn of the century but just like more than 20 years ago - - is that crazy or what? This is a great word in that day actually Feed Us whenever we meet most of the time. This is one of the few agencies that have really used a. T. Zoom technology to make getting to the meetings easier especially for people with disabilities during severe and inclement weather. However showing up in person guarantees that you will get a free lunch. Sandwiches and a salad in a nice plastic container. Way too much to eat for me so I just ate the salad and save my sandwich and now it sits in the refrigerator at my apartment. We used to meet four times a year however now we only meet twice a year and that's almost frustrating cuz we can hardly get anything done in just two meetings. When you only have two meetings a year you have to cover a lot of ground at each meeting. Today we had reports from folks from all over the state who work with assistive technology and what they're doing in their various locales. I'm still really just the only volunteer really everyone else seems to be there as a representative of either the company / agency they work for. The real frustration for me is that we spend so much time rehashing and going back over stuff we've already done. It sort of came to a head today when we spent the good part of an hour trying to find out of one of these. As I mentioned earlier we meet twice a year that might be changing we might go back to a meeting four times a year. That way we have a good probability of coming up with something new or possibly a better solution to some of the issues we're running into. And the best part two more sandwiches a year at least!

I 

Loose lens Monday

Sometimes I wonder if the world is trying to tell me to get contacts, contact lenses. I have never seriously ever concerned contact lenses just because of my propensity to lose stuff especially small things. A contact lens is the size of a fingertip and two of them just increases the probability that I would lose them even quicker. I say this because for no apparent reason this afternoon run the lenses fell out of my new set of glasses that I got from Walmart a few weeks ago, remember? I was so proud of myself getting the glasses finally getting them to a point where they would be all together. Well that's not happening I guess not to me anyway. I think whatever I get glasses wise will be defeated until I said come to the world of fate and get contact lenses. I will continue to kick the Pricks because I can't see myself getting in contacts for all the stress that it would cause me. So now on my living things to do this week is going to be heading up the street to the Walmart and the optometrist that lives there. At least, now I have a place to go to complain and hopefully have them reset the lens and screw them in tight this time. Now I might circumvent this by seeing if my friend DJ who lives upstairs still has her glass repair set. I've never seen her kit but she says she has one and I totally believe her and I totally believe she knows how to use it. Maybe sometime tomorrow afternoon I'll consider contacting DJ see if she can secure the lens back into the frames. No I'm not doing this in the morning just because it's Tuesday and I'll have my assist meeting tomorrow, the first time in 2 weeks. I don't anticipate a lot of documents to sign but I'm sure they'll be a good number. I'm so looking forward to meeting the group again and getting back to work.

I cooked today. I've been hankering homemade chili for some reason the last couple days. Possibly because I ran across the YouTube or reels or something that gave a good example of how to make quick chili. I was surprised how simple that it was and that that I actually had all the ingredients to put together a chili. So after getting my Monday morning routine out of the way and get dressed and ready for the day. I went through my cans to see what I had found the number of cans of chili beans as well as what I really needed was a can of ground beef- which I found! I've never really used ground beef as ground beef before so I figured it'd be a lot easier than defrosting the ground beef I have in the refrigerator freezer. Sure enough it worked. I was a little concerned about it not messing with the other ingredients but I was wrong. I chopped up the onion, threw it inside two and some hot peppers, threw in some chili powder and Sue everything into the crock pot and put it to cook, which it did really well. Around 5:00 I actually finished the project and filled up a bowl of chili  watch the news. At that point I thought I had turned the Shelly off because I wanted to make sure it would be cold enough to handle to put away later on in the evening. About a half an hour ago I checked to make sure it was cooling off and guess what I had not turned the chili off! I thought that I had but no it's hot it's not smells real good still tastes really good but there's no way I'm going to be able to manhandle that into the refrigerator by the time it's bedtime and I'm not going to wait up for it to cool down. I'm going to take my chances and keep it out all night in as early as I get up tomorrow morning throw it in the refrigerator and hope for the best…

 

Dinner choices

 Yesterday in order to meet my desire that I work as little as possible on Sundays I fried up one of the packages of pork that I purchased a couple months ago and froze. I almost didn't cook them up because I was kind of tired by the end of the day and thinking of all the work it would be to fry them up especially the way that I was thinking of doing it with the pieces dredged in oil and flour- - I believed I wrote about this last week sometime. Anyway, I must have gotten a second wind or something so I pulled them out of the freezer yesterday thought them out and fried them up last evening and I was surprised at how good they tasted not at all so I remember the minute didn't have hardly the bad backup taste are the odd backup taste but I associated with pork. Again there was even more pork in the packing room tonight I had quite a bit of leftovers which I didn't put away in a plastic bag or anything I put them on a paper plate then shoved them into the refrigerator to chill for the night.

This morning of course I was up fairly early so I could be sure that I was ready to go by the time I had to leave for coffee with the kids. Once again it was a great experience I really do enjoy visiting with these young folks. I'm terribly interested in what they're up to and what they're doing with their lives. We had breakfast and did a fairly decent visit then went on our ways. It looked like it was shaping up to be a beautiful day but I really had no place to go and I didn't want to spend money if I didn't have to. So instead of being out and about enjoying the beautiful day I was inside watched a couple movies and for dinner had a large piece of the pork that I cooked yesterday which was great! Now, I'm quite intrigued that the idea of cooking these pieces of meat the way that I wanted to with the egg Coating in bread crumbs. I'll bet they're great I've even thought about doing that with pieces of spam to see what they would come out like. I may just do that this would greatly add to my dinner choices.

Saturday's musings

I I really need to start putting the lookout again for a housekeeper some sort. The one person I really kind of used is leaving the state. Her story is a long story and fairly complicated but I found her more or less dependable when I needed her. It wasn't a regular situation and I had to have her come over to work on an apartment when she had free time to do it in. Her main problem was that she didn't have enough work time- - didn't design her enough hours to survive, this is her story and I think there's a lot of issues that have to be considered but the bottom line was that she finally ended up quitting and I assume moving back to Idaho. I don't know how long she'll be there before she starts heading out on the road and living out of her car but she has done before. I worry about her when I don't hear from her from time to time. Right now I assume she still has her cell phone or at least she still has cell phone service. If I don't hear from her in a couple of days I'll give her a call or a text to see if she responds. I had forgotten that when she was my personal care attendant she was basically single except that she had a person she was waiting for that would not be available for a number of years. We hadn't talked about him for a long time and still haven't I assume that the wait continues. She's very dependable so I think that if she is committed to somebody she sticks with that person for as long as that person needs her. All I know is now she's not available for house cleaning. For one reason or another I keep getting advertisements for different housekeepers in this area. I don't know really, how much they charge but it's pretty significant and this prevents me from engaging them as a housekeeper. Perhaps if I can't snag somebody around here I might consider engaging in this housekeeping agency.

I actually was dressed and ready to go around 9:30 a.m. and I went across the street over to the coffee shop and got a cup of coffee and sat at a table for a significant amount of time listening to bits and pieces of conversation all around me. Pull up pressure system finally moved out leaving blue skies and direct sunshine which even though it was cold starting out this morning it warmed up to be a very nice day. After my time at the coffee shop I came back to the apartment Dolly around for a while and then went across the street to the market I was looking for a sponge that goes inside the the handle of the mop sponge mop. I've been meaning to get this replacement for some time. Luckily my current home health person doesn't bug me or I would have had it done sooner. She indicated to me that she knows how to put the replacement sponge into the mop handle. I totally believe her and we'll have her have a go at it on Monday. This will allow me to mop up some of the stuff in the shower. The largest plain dirt that comes off of the chair that I sit on. I don't really know how it gets as dirty as it does but it tends to actually I think I drank a lot of dirt on my squeals of my power chair when I come in to the bathroom and I think for that dirt hits or gets watered by the shower and such all that dust turns to mud and other dirt on the floor. The shower also has dirt on the floor and needs to be scrubbed away with the brush I thought I had a brush that would do that but it could not be found so I found a replacement but I don't have the hands to install it at this point so I plan to use it the floor in the bathroom on shower days and days without bringing too much dirt from the outside whether it's from a rainstorm or melted snow.

 

Frankly Friday

 I was blessed with perfect weather, I'll be at a little chilly but the sun was out and the buses seem to be running on time. I had a number of appointments in the afternoon when was to get my toes done in the other was to have coffee with a friend of mine. I had to get from one point in the valley to the other in less than an hour and that meant catching two different buses. I was able to pull it off the operation and just be 5 or 10 minutes late to the 3:00 appointment at Starbucks. I couldn't believe my luck. I wore my red stuck in cap that a friend of mine here at the apartment complex knitted for me a couple of years ago in a large flannel hoodie that I draped over my legs and lap just in case I thought that I needed a little more warmth than the day was willing to render. I was comfortable for the trips I made on the bus sometimes that's all one can ask for.

My friend Lori and I had a good conversation talking about stuff old people talk about when they drink coffee out in public. I was traveling so I kind of missed lunch so I had a bacon egg and cheese muffin that the coffee shop makes. I could have been really hungry but it tasted very good. We tried not to talk about politics but kept getting drug back to the silliness and political obscenity that this country is currently involved in. Totally blowing our minds at how bizarre the events are that just keep unraveling and nothing seems to be being done to prevent the events of this day. We also talked about where we were in life our station in life. We are the seniors now relegated to be in the background many times living lives of cliche where we are the main actors in the cliche. We fear that AI is robbing the world of great writers by writing greatness out of the writer's skills. We try to plants to write something new in the next coming weeks hopefully by the time we meet again with our writing companion/friend. I don't know if I will be able to pull off such an event. Sometimes I really feel my creative writing days are at a standstill if not over completely. But then I get an idea or a different concept and I want to try it out. One of the things I had been thinking of is finding a piece of writing that I like and then mimicking it by placing my own characters in the Format changing the names and such. I don't think that's plagiarism but it feels like it. My writing friend says that's okay to write this if it contributes to writing something different and more creative and something being able to be finished later on. It's a good enough justification for me. Curious though I don't know if I'll be able to pull it off but I might give it a try- - maybe start at 500 Words and go from there…

So long Susan stamberg

Susan stamberg died today! I know that's not a big deal to most people and I think probably most people don't even know who she is and I wouldn't know who she was a less my old best friend Kim likely hadn't got me listening to National Public Radio All Things Considered and other radio shows. Susan stamberg was one of the hosts of National Public Radio she's considered one of the founding mothers and seemed like she was always there- - what she was. Many times she broadcast her shows from her home during national holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the such. For some reason I just felt really close to her and other NPR personalities. I know there old and they're going to die but when it finally happened it's always such a shock to me. Eventually it circles around to my own mortality and I have to take a few minutes to think about where I'm at on the whole concept of life and not life. Along that same note one of my quasi favorite local television journalists passed away from cancer last week and that was quite a shock to me sort of. I noticed he looked kind of strange the last couple months but I didn't think anything of it really. Actually, I don't think I even realized it was the same person there is something familiar with him but I couldn't really Pin It Down but sure enough he was just deteriorating from the cancer Beast and he kept reporting up until the end amazing. They had a couple of interesting comments regarding his process and how he was actually terrified- - who wouldn't be?- - towards the end. I don't know how I'm going to be when and if I get enough time to realize my end is going to be near. I don't know if I'll be brave and stoic or if I'll just cave in on myself find myself a corner and sit there watching Marvel movies until they carry me away. Actually, that may not be a bad way to go all things considered.

Today was another cold and blustery autumn/winter Day that I barely went outside if not just to check how cool the weather was. I kept myself busy at the apartment even sweeping the floors at one point in time. I did my final workout for the week on my own bike and even attended the coffee social this morning. The last couple weeks have been somewhat interesting a few new people have shown up are actually long time folks that haven't really come to the social very much and now they are regular attendees and have a great deal to contribute to the conversations. It's funny how attending this coffee group makes me feel like I've done something during my day and I don't have to feel so inadequate about letting life go by and not doing anything in the time granted me. I suppose it doesn't really matter in the end all things considered. It's really just how we get by..

Wednesday's Wiggles

I don't know why Wednesday works as well as it does as a work day it just does. It allows me to get my washing done as well as my physical workout on the arm bike. I'm sure if I watched any other day it would be the same but it seems like on Wednesday I get the wash done and I have clothes for the rest of the week and the beginning of the next. Like I said it doesn't matter what day the washing happens but Wednesday works for me. Any other day of the week it seems like I have something else going that would really be a hassle to take out the two to three hours that I spend on washing. Perhaps if I didn't dry the clothes twice that would have some impact but still if I have a meeting out that I have to attend it's going to impact the stress I feel on wash day. Tuesdays of courses assist and on Thursdays is coffee- - but I can do coffee and wash at the same time it's just a little inconvenient. This week I actually did my arm bike during the second dry cycle of my wash and of course on Wednesday it's the last of my 60 Minute workouts. At the end of that workout I have done 180 minutes leaving just 20 more minutes to do to get my 200 minutes in for the week. I usually do 30 minutes somewhere between Thursday and Saturday.

Today was a good day to stay in and wash. There was much cooler temperatures and there were clouds and thunder and rain intermittently placed throughout the day. I was glad to be inside. I didn't spend the whole day when I wasn't doing the other stuff watching movies. I did some work on the puzzles word puzzles and worried about my butt and the power chair. Everything seems to be working but I have a problem with too much weight on my one side of my rear end. Chose not to tape up the butt today and just let it ride for the next couple days and see how it looks on Friday then we might patch it up for the weekend. Overall I think I'm doing pretty good on rear end maintenance. I haven't had any significant skin breakdowns in quite a while I'm on a roll so to speak I hope it continues that's why I'm really trying to focus on using the big pads as protectors. So far they've done pretty good.

Now it's downhill for the rest of the week not that it's tough downhill it's just not a whole lot going to be going on I don't think. Of course there's coffee tomorrow and following that I should have some free time but I'm not sure what the weather's going to be like. If it's poor weather I'm sure I'm not going out. I've got everything I need in the apartment now so I can stay in for some time. I just have to work better on my socialization skills. I probably need to get out more but it's just so easy to be inside with my technology and enjoying the apartment that I have

Tuesday's worries

 

I'm really trying not to get spooked about my present situation, physically. I totally understand that I'm aging and I'm trying to age in place the best that I can. At the present time I'm a long way from being totally independent but at the same time I'm a long ways from being committed to the long-term care as far as I'm concerned. Having said that I must confess this morning it took me a couple hours to get dressed and I think primarily because I didn't have anywhere to go. I know that sounds stupid but it's true usually on Tuesday mornings I have my assist meeting in downtown Salt Lake. I have to be dressed and out the door by 9:15 9:30 to catch the bus inbound to get me to the train inbound by 11:00 when my meeting is at assist, i n c. Before I even got up though I plan to race through getting dressed so I can maybe go across the street for coffee to bring back to the apartment the nurse on all morning long. That did not happen however because I made the mistake of wandering into the TV area once I got up turning on the news so I can watch the weather. Then in the shave which I ended up scrubbing the toilet and a few other things. When I finally did start the process of actually dressing I had a Dickens of a time getting my one leg up over my other leg so I can put my shorts on. At this juncture- if you remember correctly - I also put on my tennis shoes that's the only cut some process out of the process it allows me to have a fairly decent base to try to stand up so I can get my shorts on over my hips it's complicated I understand. Anyway it took me forever to work with the devices I have to raise my leg up across the other one to put the shorts on. Once the shorts were on the shoes were on things went pretty smooth. By that time it was a nearly 10:00 a.m. I had basically blown my morning. Telling somebody about this later in the day I mentioned the fact that if I had had a place to be I would have immediately gotten dressed as quickly as possible I would have made the bus or the train and I would have gotten to my meeting and Back Again. So it's made me wonder all day do I need to have a job of some sort that I have to get up and focus on totally maxing out my dressing skills just to be dressed for the rest of the day? I don't know all I know is getting more and more difficult and I can't really make up enough reasons why this is happening. Today I used the excuse that there must be something wrong with my power chair or my cushion in the chair that's not allowing me to sit the way I usually do so I can easily get my one leg up over my other leg so I can put my shoes on as well as my shorts- - like I said it's complicated. I'm not spooked or anything really I'm just sort of worried like how is it going to come when am I going to realize that it's time to move to the next step. And once again played with the idea of if I had every day attendant care this would greatly increase my ability to stay away from long-term care or Assisted Living type scenarios. The looming out there somewhere in my future just not today…

I know where you live

Today is my brother's birthday he is something like 10 years older than I am which puts him in the 83/84 Years range. Fortunately, he is extremely healthy and looks very good for someone who is that age. I've always counted myself extremely lucky to have him for a brother especially since I'm an adopted child I've always felt terribly lucky to have been adopted into the family that I have. They've all accepted me very well over the years and it's been somewhat of a challenge for them to do so I'm a bit of a rascal bug. Since the death of mom the family is sort of become somewhat distant- - at least that's my interpretation of what's going on. Maybe it's all me maybe everybody's talking and talking to each other but I'm out of the conversation and that would not surprise me either. It's certainly not their fault but mine. I don't know why I've become so distant these days. Perhaps it's the electronic communication options we have these days especially things like messaging, emails and such. We can make contact immediately and respond immediately which should make it so much more easier than the old days of when you had to sit down find a pen and paper any other items needed to write a letter let aalone finding the time. The biggest issue I have with electronic conversations and communication is that once they are finished unless saved or whatever they become invisible they vanish. They're gone forever as is the post to receive the documentation.

!

My older brother takes care of being a lot of ways. He does not do anything like hovering over me or anything it's just that whenever I need assistance- - and there's a person with a disability I need a lot of assistance from time to time - he has always been there to provide whatever assistance he can do. I think at times I have taken advantage of the situation maybe not so much as getting help that I didn't necessarily need at the time as much as just seeing him and having conversation with him and enjoying his company. However with a power chair like I have and other issues he has assisted many times at horrible hours of the day and night to make sure I'm okay and safe. As she's gotten older I've been feeling a bit more guilty for asking him to do things for me that perhaps I need to have somebody else doing at this point in our lives. Sooner or later I am going to have to do these inroads of assistance with my brother no longer will be able to provide such help. Kind of sad though I do miss contact with him and the history that we shared together however brief that it was before he left the house, join the Army and started a life for himself. It was never the same after that he was still my brother but just a visitor in the house when he came to visit on those times he did visit. So happy birthday big guy! I hope it was a great birthday for you. I love you tons and if there's anything I can ever do for you just let me know you know where I live..

A

Suddenly Sunday

I made it to the weekend without pooping my pants or pooping my bed! It's late Sunday night and I'm about ready to go to bed but I just thought I'd do a few words on how thankful I am that I was able to get through the weekend. I know I'm somewhat fixated on this I'm probably posting too much in this area but I guess if it's important to me that's what I write about. Is that correct? I felt at risk all weekend long which is my excuse for not really doing much aside from coffee on Friday and having breakfast with Mark Anthony this morning. Perhaps that's enough even then I'm spending way too much money. I think I spent more than $60 on home delivery food yesterday. That's okay I've conned myself to believe that because I've ordered all this canned food and such that I won't have to spend any more money shopping and more importantly I won't have to hump the large cans of food home and that's the big deal for me. I, as a rule, don't have  someone to carry all the big canned food pieces home or whatever is too big for me to carry on my lap. I still don't know if I'll continue to use this food home delivery or grocery Home Delivery Service. It's pretty convenient and maybe that's part of the problem I foresee. I could be using home delivery more than I need to but so far that's not an issue. Whatever I decide I have to make a decision because for the first time I'm beginning to worry about how much I'm spending and I haven't felt that way for some time now. It's kind of spooky. I know everyone worries about how much money they are spending and how much money they have all that kind of stuff but quite frankly I haven't had to really. My appetites have been so small that I really have been just spending chump change and I've gotten used to that and particularly a fairly large balance, for me, and my bank account. Now I'm getting things that I might i.e. Clothes and such that maybe I better start being more careful and figure out how to not spend as much. You know one of the big things I've done is basically done a lot of my own cooking and when you do your own cooking you do save a lot of money then buying preferred food, or going out to a restaurant or whatever. It just takes a lot of energy and a lot of commitment to make your own meals on a regular basis. Especially eating all that I  prepare. If I continue to use a home delivery service it will be during the fiercest part of the winter or bad weather. I want to stop getting drenched shopping for my groceries.

Maybe I'm just getting soft as I grow older. I'm just not as tough as I used to be that's it. I don't necessarily know if that's a bad thing or not it's just where I'm at and some things a person just has to accept..

 

Toasty dry Saturday night

The storm the other people have been predicting arrived this afternoon maybe a little after 6:00 with gusts of wind, hosts of dark clouds flashes of lightning and gushes of rain. Luckily I had gotten all the things I wanted to get done yesterday afternoon so I can enjoy the day here at the apartment. I even caved in and ordered stuff for the market to be delivered. I really do this but because there's a number of large can items that are pretty heavy and bulky I decided I'd go this route. Of course I wasn't totally pleased with the results I either forgot it a couple of items I really wanted to order or they didn't have them. I got most of yeah because I wanted Chef Boyardee stuff spaghetti and meatballs and beef raviolis. Got a bunch of other things I needed to replenish like yogurts in the refrigerator beef pot pies in the freezer. I really do enjoy these little pies. I have a couple chicken pot pies but I don't like them as much as I like the beef. They're a little small for one dinner I've been known to have two at a time that seems a little decadent to me. I turned the TV off about hour and a half ago to enjoy the storm. I'd watch too much television today anyway a number of Marvel movies.

The main reason I stayed close in today was I wasn't sure as far as my bowels were concerned. I really thought I had dumped a load in the bed last night and was quite surprised to get up and find that I had not but I didn't sleep much so I felt pretty ragged after I gotten up this morning. I thought about going over for coffee but since I went yesterday I figured I'd give it a rest. I'm still feeling a little insecure about my bowels tonight. I'm hoping I can get through the night without an issue and particularly if Mark Anthony or Jasmine wants to go to breakfast in the morning. Although I got a couple of my good pads that are pretty comprehensive and hopefully that'll get me through the night. Before I got to do is get through the morning breakfast I should be okay unless I drop a load during the night and then I'll just cancel everything and see if I can get Melissa to come over. Today would have been iffy just because she has her son's football stuff going on all day Saturdays. You'd be surprised what I'm doing right now I'm riding this in the bedroom and I've got my big heater plugged in and it's working great. I have the heater on low and it moves back and forth I guess oscillates is the word. The wind is howling strong enough to actually push cold draft through the apartment well not anymore this Baby's putting out lots of heat just the way I like it…

 Q11111Q

Fairweather coffee

I made coffee this morning as usual because Friday it's one of the days that my home health person comes for my shower and other things and I like to have fresh coffee for her. She doesn't come really early like 8:00 she gets here and even then she's usually somewhat groggy and so I like to have something there to pick her up. Anyway, this morning I noticed that I was getting low on coffee again. I've written about it before there's a little place across the street from where I live that it's a nice little coffee shop and it's a bit more expensive than buying coffee and a big cans at the market. It's more intimate you know or you can know the people around you or even if you don't know them you feel like you do know them is everything is just so close. There's big piles of gunny sacks in the back where are the Raw coffee beans come in. Not only do they make local coffee for people to come in and drink they make coffee beans that are sent out to a number of different businesses and establishes probably around the US actually. But there are a bunch of locals that do show up probably daily. I don't go there that much so I only see what happens usually on the weekends. But, today I want to make sure I had enough coffee to get through the weekend and not have to go out in case it really does rain like the talking that it might. Priscilla the hurricane which is winding down is scheduled to throw off some moisture our way and we might get some rain mix this moisture with a low front that's supposedly also coming through and we should have a couple days of cooler cooler weather that it might be just nice to sit around the apartment drink coffee write maybe watch I'm supervised hours of Netflix, prime and Disney Plus. I did get my Disney plus working again I don't know what happened but I was pleased to see that I had access to my Marvel content again I'm content.

Anyway I was just going to do a fast Breeze in get my coffee have them grind it and zip back to the apartment when I was ambushed by DJ a friend of mine here at the apartment complex. She had heard me talking about this place a number of times and saw me heading over so met me at the coffee shop and we sat down and had really good and long conversation just about nothing in general. The kind of conversations people like to have when they're adults especially with no hidden agendas. We must have visited for at least an hour which is a long time. I don't know if we're going to do it again soon- - actually we were supposed to meet tomorrow with the date that we were talking about meeting but now we don't have to since we did it today. I still might go over in the morning if it's not raining I'm a fair weather kind of coffee guy…

 

Calendar check!

 You know when you use public transit you have to be very focused and responsible to be able to use the bus system in such a way that you can get to your appointments easily, on time and not too messed up. It's really easy to get messed up, through the fall of your own most of the time, you can only do so much too protect an appointment time on public transit. You're at the well of the transit gods who if you're lucky will smile on you and let you slide into your appointment on time. I was kind of like that today. Of course it's Thursday which means there's coffee social in the morning but I knew I was going to be way done with that by the time I needed to head out for my 1:50 p.m. appointment at my podiatrist almost 50 blocks from where I live which means I've got to take a bus to get there on time not only one bus one bus Which magically turns into another bus once I get to the end of the line for the first part of my trip. Actually the bus does not turned into the other route I have to get off a bus and then board another bus to finish my trip and most often than not the other bus will not leave for 20 or 30 minutes. I had about 30 minutes before I had to get to my other appointment once I got to the transfer point. I decided that juncture rather than risk waiting for the bus I would just go ahead and drive my chair up to the podiatrists. I had a full charge in my chair when I started out so I knew I had enough energy. It's about a mile and a half to get to the office sidewalks are pretty good but still even the best sidewalks have lots of bumps to him and you got to be focused and paying attention to where you're going.

I was blessed today to have good weather for my trip. Temperatures were actually in the upper 70s as I roll wrong the sun was out the clouds for today's late storm have not come in yet. I was enjoying the warm before the storm. I made good time so I had about 34 minutes before my appointment time. There's a big Smith Superstore a half a block away from my podiatrist's office I love to go in and Window Shop and sometimes even buy something. Today I was fortunate enough to get a four piece Fried Chicken Box refrigerator cold for $2 and some odd cents. I wasn't hungry or anything so I just put the box in the plastic bag and hung it off my chair. There is so much chicken here it would be at least two meals especially if I had something else to go with the chicken like mashed potatoes or gravy and something green who knows? So many options. I got everything together and then headed over to the podiatrist's office. I was kind of surprised because the person that helped me get in- - she has a super heavy door to get into his office and this receptionist often comes out and helps me get into the building. I can do it and I don't mind getting my own self in the building but it looks pretty pathetic. Anyway it's a new person that's not the regular receptionist. I go in to check in and she's a little perplexed why tell her which podiatrist I am there for an informs me that he's not here on Thursdays. Needless to say I'm a little more than freaked out. You know how you doubt yourself but I know that I made the appointment for this day and this time 9 weeks ago. They eventually found my appointment which was supposed to have been yesterday but I got the announcement on my email and then the cell phone phone message indicating that my appointment was today at 1:50 p.m. wasn't much I could do at this point and it didn't do me any good to get angry. I don't do that anyway sometimes I really wish I could but that's a whole another blog. I'm scheduled for next Friday 2:00 p.m. don't be late….

 

A basket full of Wednesday

 This is an image of my new laundry basket. I know this seems a bit mundane as far as a topic for the blog goes but actually it's the accumulation of many days weeks and years of the previous laundry basket. The previous laundry basket was so worn out by the time I finally pulled the trigger and got the new basket that I could no longer lift the basket by myself onto my lap to take my clothes to and from the laundry because all the handles are broken off. I should have retired the poor basket months ago but I just didn't want to take the time to figure out how to get the basket from wherever I purchase it to the home front. I know this isn't rocket science and I know that if I really wanted to do what I could figure it out very quickly but I just kept being able to use my basket one way or the other till I finally couldn't stand it any longer. What I was doing actually at the end was putting the clothes in the basket and then bulldozing the basket all the way to the laundry digging my clothes out and throwing them in the machines in reversing the process to get back to the apartment. Many times Neighbors would force themselves on me and make me let them lift the back up onto my lap. I found it easier not to fight and accept their gracious offer of assistance. Perhaps this is what finally motivated me to make the purchase.

This weekend I happen to be over at Walmart searching for something and not really finding what I needed but this is really an excuse for me just to wander around the market and enjoy all the things I wish I could get. Oh, I could get these things but I have to figure out a way to bring them home big awkward items say like a watermelon. On this day I didn't have to really get too much stuff so when I passed the section where they had the laundry baskets I decided I would go ahead and try it. I had the hook that I always carry when I'm out and about in case I need to pick up something that I've dropped or reach something I can't reach sitting down. The hook gives me two or maybe even three feet of reach that I can use to knock down items when I'm shopping that I can't reach otherwise and there's nobody around that I can ask. Anyway the hook is upside down of course so the hook Parts exposed and oddly enough the basket slid right over the hook and allowed me to transport the baskets easily in front of me with my power chair. I must admit that I had a little trouble entering and exiting the bus but that took care of itself readily and I got the whole kit and caboodle home without a problem. And today I was able to use the basket perfectly and best of all is able to raise the loaded basket onto my lap with hardly any effort at all…

A

Quick text Tuesday

 I'm going to have to be quick. I plugged the stupid tablet in but for one reason or another this afternoon the blame thing didn't charge. So I don't have much time so if this stops in the middle of a sentence you'll know why. If I get energized baby I'll finish it tomorrow if that's what happens. I think I'll be okay though I don't know if I did enough to justify 500 Words today. No meeting at a cyst I didn't have to go to town which is always a blessing- - kind of. I like the meetings but sometimes it's nice to have a break not your fault or whatever a good reason to stay home. I didn't do much with my day however I really couldn't get in the mood. We're in the transition phase where it's somewhat chilly but not really cold. One of those days for you don't mind going out without a jacket but once you're there you say why didn't I grab a jacket or something. I didn't go to the market just to pick up a can of chip dip bean dip for the Fritos I got yesterday the big scoops. I had a few after I got done with my TV shows and they were just exquisite. I'm proud of myself that I was able to put the being dipped down and into the refrigerator and get on with my evening after a Segway into bean dip Central. I still think I'm eating too much and I must limit myself. This would have been a perfect day to hydrate but I didn't. I think I ingested a lot of salt too because when I was out shopping for the bean dip I rewarded myself by going over to KFC and getting a two piecer which is like eight bucks now! That's two pieces of chicken traditional a roll and mashed potatoes and gravy. In the old days I used to cost like 295 and you got three pieces of chicken I got a leg and a small piece of other kind of chicken I don't know what kind of bone it is. The chicken pieces were good I would like to have a little more grease with my chicken however. I really do like the original chicken they generally offer. One really has to limit themselves on what they have available there really is dangerous. I don't know if I've ever talked about the fact that I have a couple of platforms that I watch on a fairly regular basis and one of them has stopped allowing me to access them. For some reason Disney plus has stopped bye subscription. I'm thinking that maybe I was due to stop by subscription. I thought that I was renewing the subscription automatically then going directly to my bank account however that must not be the case. They're saying I need to renew my subscription so that must have been what had happened that for one reason or another it didn't take my card that I know I have busted with them it was the old card. I eventually got everything squared away and now it's tacked into my new card. We'll see how will that does…

AI you dirty guy

You know that sounds you get when your computer receives a message/email/text from somebody and you are doing something else and drop everything to go answer that particular notification sound? I don't get many of those notifications so but I do get one I often, do stop what I'm doing go check it out. Many times it's something from somebody forwarding something they thought was interesting /  entertaining and sent to me. I very really check those out I don't have time for videos and silly things like that I tend to cave in and spend endless hours watching silly little tidbits a video. Anyway, today I get a notification and I think I was on my arm bike working out so I didn't pay much attention to it when I finished my arm bike workout about 45 minutes later I ended going back to my cell phone to check out at the notification was. And I get pissed off enough as I sort of indicated with all the video forwards and such for people that I know and I know I'm just on there list of Bunches of people that they send stuff to all the time and that's really frustrating but today actually it was a stupid bot or an AI indicated it wanted to get to know me better- - seriously those were the words that showed up in the text  “I want to get to know you better”. Needless to say, I was pissed. I'm so glad I didn't stop what I was doing and then strap to get to the notification. The stupid AI wanted to get to know me better that is so stupid. Of course I looked at the document after I got into it, after I finished my 1 hour arm bike ride. I was totally annoyed to get a notification from an AI who wants it wants to get to know me better. I've ranted about this before I have no desire to build a relationship with an AI. It was a creepy feeling. When I rented before I've talked about that movie where the actor hates Androids who are supposed to be helper units and he ends up getting a partner who's an Android. They end up making a relationship of some sort but I totally understand his revulsion and refusal to want to interface with the AI/ robot. I really am prejudice against AIS, they scare me and I know I've watched too many science fiction shows about giant computers taking over or trying to take over mankind. It worries me that it's happening at this point in time in our history. I mean the AI is is everywhere and now interrupting my solitude with stupid emails or text messages about wanting to get to know me better. I look to see if there was any way I could eradicate the message my text alerts / email and or whatever it is and I couldn't find a way to get rid of it I even want to make it hurt a little bit. I wanted to hurt his feelings, but you know they don't have feelings they're artificial intelligences the operative word here being artificial. They're pinocchios wanting to be boys, real life boys but that ain't going to happen….

Sunday morning coffee

 

I am so lucky that I have family that like to be with me. Speaking primarily of the Sunday morning breakfast team. My son and his daughter and her boyfriend which I think will end up being my grandson-in-law or however that works. We continue to meet Sunday mornings this little restaurant up the street from where I live. It's not the best food in the world and the help is pretty good the coffee's iffy but it's hot and they pay attention if your cup gets low but more than anything else at the time that we can get together and visit. I genuinely believe that we like each other's company. What kind of surprised that we've continued to meet on a weekly basis I wouldn't mind even if it was once or twice a month but right now I'll take the weekly meetings. We set the time for 8:00 a.m. and again I'm totally surprised that how often we make that time. There are times when they ask for an extra 15 minutes or 20 minutes that's okay. I established the time just because it fits in with my schedule of getting up early and dressed and out the door. I don't think I would like to do any earlier than 8:00 but this time works for us most of the time. My granddaughter is getting ready to go to school out of state in a month or so and when that happens she'll be gone from the morning breakfast. She says she'll come down on a regular basis but that might be asking a little too much just for breakfast maybe then we'll go to once a month. I was early getting to the coffee shop this morning and I decided just to wait it out for the kids to get there and as I did they brought me my coffee and the sun was just right and I noticed an abundance of steam coming off of my coffee and it was really cool. I took a couple images of the steam rising from the cup of coffee I don't know how well that'll come across but I thought I would put that up as my image for the weekend. Enjoyed shipping the coffee waiting for the kids to show up

Yesterday's rain moved on leaving the area with numerous records of rainfall for the short amount of time that the rain was here. The front brought in much cooler weather I actually took my blanket that I usually carry when it's really cold but I didn't need it but it was nice to be totally warm. Once again I didn't do much today aside from the breakfast with the kids. I feel so guilty doing as little with my time as I end up doing. But there's nothing I want to do that would take me away from the apartment I guess. Right now I'm favoring my butt a little bit just because I'm not bandaged up like I usually am to protect against pressure sores and skin breakdown. So any extra rolling could cause some serious issues, at least that's what I'm telling myself for laying back in my chair, taking the weight off my butt and watching Prime and Netflix and Disney all day long.

Beware the lightning!

Once again I was awake off and on early this morning sorry about 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. Etc. I would slide in and out of sleep so I guess I accumulated some sleep over that period of time but the last time around 6:00 a.m I was awakened by Thunder and flashes of lightning a great little storm rolling through the area. I laid back on my pillow for a second to enjoy the morning Thunder then all the sudden I was was totally freaked out but I realized lightning and thunder equals power outages. Power outages equals being trapped in my bed since everything in my bed is electric. Frantically I threw back my blankets best that I could and started the process of swinging my legs out over my bed and onto my wheelchair. I was terrified that I would get stranded in my bed but that's okay because I had access to myself on and worst case scenario I could scream and yell till somebody came and open the door. Luckily, there was no power failure this morning during the electric storm but doesn't stop the possibility that it might happen again. Remember a couple months ago during the summer I woke up in the morning and there was no power? I don't want to go through that again not one little bit.

I'm currently going through different websites looking at little power storage systems-like little power generators that I can have hooked to my bed and hopefully when the power is off I would be able to access one of these devices and continue on with my day. I'm not sure how that would really work as far as plugging in my bed as well as my chair well not so much my chair but the bed. Remember my bed goes up and down as well as the top portion lifts me up as well which helps me in my transfer from the bed to the chair. I've looked at some small generator Power Systems less than $150 that might do the trick except for I don't know how much amperage- - I guess that's the terminology for power usage an item might use. For example if the power system is not strong enough or does not hold enough power then when I use the power bed if it doesn't have enough wattage or amperage or whatever it is it would just not power the bed up or down which I need it to do. So my course of action now is going to be maybe talk to my brother Carl who knows all things like this or talk to somebody else who may or may not know this kind of information. One of the places I'm thinking of would be the guys over at u c a t Utah Center for assistive technology and see what they think. I I've also thought about contacting the makers of the bed and see if they have it published as far as how much power the bed takes to operate. These questions I should probably know by now in my life but I don't. I want to make sure that if I get such device I'm getting the right size and it will work the one and only time that I'm going to need it to work if ever. I have however thought about it might be a good way to add a little power to my power chair if we get into a point where the regular Power Systems aren't working on a regular basis so I can fill up the charger and then charge my batteries as much as it'll charge on the power chair. The power chair batteries are quite large and I'm sure the little system wouldn't put a lot of energy into the larger batteries but possibly enough to get by. Until the regular power is restored...

Finally friday!

 I've recently learned that one of my granddaughters is currently in the hospital. This is the first time I've been really aware of one of my grandkids going through something traumatic like this. Watched to make sure that the situation she's in doesn't get worse and have more medical intervention. I think she'll be okay at least I'm praying that she'll be okay. My biggest shoe now is how do I be a good grandparent through this whole idea. I knew when I ever had any issues like this I essentially got cards in the mail from my grandparents maybe a letter but the thing is usually just a card or so. I feel pretty awkward trying to be involved, I wish I knew her better and how to better support this person. Luckily her mother my daughter is sitting with her as much as she can. My daughter is fortunate enough that she basically can work anywhere as long as she's got access to the internet and she certainly does at the hospital. I guess it's just the thing of being a parent and our grandparent and family that people are going to get sick and need support somewhere along the line. I haven't had to really do that job too much through my whole grandfather career maybe it's time I need to step up to the plate and learn how to be more supportive and a grand grandfather.

I noticed today that I started my winter nesting Behavior. The weather guys have been talking all week about the storm coming in today, tonight for the temperature is going to drop like maybe 20° or something thunder and lightning snow in the higher elevations. This is truly going to be the first storm of the season. Whenever I hear this kind of talk I slip into survival mode. I want to make sure I have enough comfort food to get through the weekend. My comfort my food I'm talking about potato chips, grapes and a few candy bars. Going into the storm I feel doubly blessed in that my apartment is still clean from my off and on cleaning ladies visit earlier this week. I've been trying to keep everything pristine as long as I can but I think that's going to change tomorrow. So I can get a good night's rest I'm thinking of building a pot of spaghetti tomorrow. I think this would be perfect comfort food for a stormy weekend. I thought about just opening up two or three cans of stew and maybe make some cornbread or something but I've kind of been promising myself spaghetti for some time. I have some hamburger I've had out for the significant amount of time but it's in a sealed container/package so I assume that the hamburger still good if not it's time for a visit to the pantry for packages and or cans of stew.

I'm supposed to meet somebody tomorrow across the street at the coffee shop. I usually go to the coffee shop on Saturday mornings and sit, I know I've written about this before. This person has indicated an interest in the coffee shop I just don't know if that interest holds on blustery rainy Autumn Saturday mornings..

Losing sleep

 I'm not sure but I think I may have to stop my routine of watching local and national news starting at 5:00 p.m. on most of the days of the week. I say this because I'm getting these weird feelings of anxiousness some kind of anxiety and I'm not sure where it's coming from except for the only thing I can imagine is the constant stress that's going on in this country politically speaking. I try to stay away from political comments in my blogs just because they just seem to be everywhere and the world doesn't need another soapbox rant. But as far as my mental health is concerned maybe it's worth ranting about. I woke yesterday morning pretty early- - as usual- - actually worrying about folks with disabilities being rounded up and taken to some sort of facility to be neutralized, vanished or whatever term one wants to use to indicate that people that might cost the major population are being taken out and disappeared. A year ago I would have said that was really paranoid thinking. I wouldn't have thought twice about it actually will sometimes it's kind of fun to play that game of what if but nowadays it gets pretty spooky when I watch the news and see the ice people jumping off their trucks in their military fatigues and hooded heads and running after these folks that are theoretically in the country illegally and rounding them up in the trucks and taking them to who knows where for who knows how long and then what happens to them? For once even some of the people here where I live, mostly old people, are also beginning to consider what's happening. There's still a number of holdouts which worries me because I think they would actually March themselves into a gas chamber if they thought it was for the common good and to make life easier for young people. That's really crazy and begins to scare me a little bit. I saw something tonight on the news or they actually Drew parallels between Hitler's 1930s and what's going on now. Been I have been trying to bring this attention for some time now but seem to fall on deaf ears but now someone else's seeing it and I can't believe people aren't doing anything about it. I mean there are blatant laws being broken and no one's doing anything about it I mean at the legislative level I mean Congress and stuff. They're just letting them get away with it and falling back on the old legal court system and stuff and I know that's all we've got but pretty soon it might be too late. Anyway I was laying in bed and wondering is this what a coup feels like? But there's an uprising of the people going against the dually elected folks- - or when the duly elected folks keep doing things that are against the middle class and lower class populous making decisions cutting programs all aim to increase the wealth of the upper middle class. I doubt we're ever going to get back to where we were I just don't know where we're going and Hope I'm not in the crosshairs of anyone's political weapons..