Author: Peg

Carlton and his washboard – the Yosemite Stradivarius. For now, I still have his washboards. Don’t imagine I’ll keep them. He didn’t ask me to take care of them. And, I don’t imagine they are of any value. So, off to the Goodwill they will go. If you want them (I have two, a big brass one and small tin one) speak up. Well, actually email up.

And why didn’t I start to try shooting lightning years ago. Not just now that I am getting ready to move. After I move, I’ll have to shoot thru the window. But, maybe the screen will slide out of the way and I can shoot out the window. We’ll see what next summer in the old bat cave yields.

Speaking of the old bat cave. The deed it done. I am now an official non-resident resident of Goodwin House at Bailey’s Crossroads. Yup, it is filled to the gunnels with old people. People with walkers. People with failing memories. People with caregivers. People who play bingo. I will go from being the oldest person in the building to being one of the youngest. Not the youngest. There are a few who are younger than I am.

FYI – Goodwin House is a “tertiary care facility” If you are healthy and mentally OK – they let you in. Then they take care of you. It is sort of a combination rental apartment and good long term care insurance policy. Most people are there because they don’t want to “be a burden to the kids” or because they have no kids to burden. Most of the residents of my place are “rich, old, white, liberals from Arlington”. The building is literally just inches away from liberal Arlington, the parking garage is in Arlington. But, the building – and hence our voting residence – is in way too conservative Fairfax. This is a big deal to every politically active person. Which is just about everyone in this area.

Ten summers of lounging around the rooftop pool. But, not more. And since Mr C. had terminal skin cancer – it might be a good thing. My pool lounging will be limited to winter time in Kona.

Yesterday I got a really funny email from Tech Support…

Peggy,

The option to open an encounter is a separate window has not worked since it was introduced.  It has not been worked on or corrected because no one has used it.  However, it is being looked at now.

Please continue testing and let me know if you have questions.
Thanks,

What I am missing here? The option doesn’t work. It has never worked. But, they haven’t fixed it because no one uses it.

Going to go down to the asylum tomorrow and give them a big check. Then I am their problem. And, I’ll have to get serious about relocating.

I wasn’t very enthused about moving to the asylum. That is an understatement. I am entirely too young to move to an old folks home. But, it will be good to have this done. Old age is scary. Especially scary when you are alone. By this time tomorrow I will have done all that I can do – short of marrying a younger doctor or nurse. And, that’s not happening.

Hot today. Almost 100 degrees expected tomorrow. That is hot. (That is about 38C to my non-US friends.) Thankful for A/C. And, the ice maker.

Just a normal summer day. Walked to and from work. That provides almost enough exercise to make the Fitbit happy. Do a little yoga. Go out on a Bee Hunt. Bee hunt yields a nice flower and a strange beetle-like thing. But no bees.

It will be interesting to see what happens with South Carolina and the Confederate Battle Flag. Would it be OK to fly a swastika? It think not.

Just a nice lazy day. No Energizer Bunny activities. No widow-woman-weekend-meltdown. Back-to-back lazy days.

Good news. I figured out what was “wrong” with the Airness. When all else fails RTFM. I failed to turn FireVault off before trying to repair my disk structure. Everything is good now. No need to do an emergency clean install. Of course it is still reporting that it has 140.83 TB available. But, this is apparently just a “cosmetic” issue.

Did some paperwork/tax research/organizing to get ready for my “commitment” down at the asylum this coming Wednesday. I am considering the asylum as a good long term care insurance policy with a nice hotel suite thrown in for lagniappe.

Is lagniappe a French word? Or just a Cajun word?

My origami dog looks more like the late great Aibo.

I wish Aibo hadn’t been put down. I could get into a robot pet.

Will work more on the origami dogs. This dog will be converted into a cup of coffee tomorrow morning.

Getting an elderly – but strange – computer ready to go to where ever old computers go. Starting wiping the disk and went out… Fortunately the FBI didn’t raid my apartment while this was running.

Anyone want a 7 year old Fujitsu u810? I can not imagine why you would want it. It runs XP. But I used to play around with various versions of Linux. I’ll mail it to anyone who wants it. Otherwise – it goes off to goodwill next weekend.

Then – I’ll decide what to do with my ever so much more useful Lenovo.

The Airness is acting a little “wonky”. I am going to take it down to see the “geniuses” on Monday. I think it needs to have a clean install of OS X. I am just sort of lazy – clean install wise. I could convince myself that if I am going to clean install – maybe I should get a new Airness???

Got a letter from the asylum:

I am pleased to inform you that we have received all relevant medical information and the findings from the social and medical assessment indicate that you meet the conditions of occupancy … Should your physical condition change between now and your scheduled move, please contact ….

I told you it was like trying to get into a country club, or a NYC Coop.

So, all I have to do is stay well and mentally fit until Wednesday afternoon. Then they own my sorry old bat ass.

On a serious note. I am an unabashed atheist. But, I was powerfully impressed by the family members of those massacred at Emanuel AME Church. Rarely, if ever, have I seen such a demonstration of faith in action. Most of us find it difficult to forgive a perceived insult. These people found a way to forgive the killing of beloved family members. May they all find the peace and comfort that they so richly deserve.

After yesterday’s technology issues, and logging a personal best on the Fitbit running around – I welcome the weekend. Hopefully, I’ll avoid a widow-woman-weekend meltdown.

The weather guy just now calls for t-storms tomorrow afternoon followed by 2-3 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Bill. Getting better on Sunday. Over 95 degrees for the upcoming week. Thankful for air conditioning.

Well Carlton, one of your old lady friends called this afternoon. She wondered why she hadn’t heard from you.  I told her that you are waiting for your next gig as a “first patient” at Georgetown. You’ll love all the attention.

Good:  The “new improved” old bat cave is perfectly fine. It has a tiny living room and a tiny bedroom. A big closet. A bathroom that is old school sized. Which is to say the sink, john and shower take up all the space. That is ok. A little closet. And a very modest kitchen. The three windows face east. I can still see the Washington Monument, and the Capital. Plus, I can see the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception again. Can not see south or west any more. Just east.

They will take down the wall – so I’ll end up with a single 23 by 15 foot room. With the bath, kitchen, and closets taking up the rest of the 590 sq ft. And, I’ll get a dishwasher. I’ll pass on the washer/dryer. Don’t want to give up the space. I can use the common washer and dryer. I am not much interested in the kitchen. My real cooking days are over. I might make a small pot of soup, I make salads, and baked potato, do things with eggs, and saute a little of this and a little of that. That is about the end of my cooking these days. Oh yes, and oatmeal.

I will pay for this hummer next week and move in in 3 months.

Sunspots: As I was trying to leave the office today – one of those things that sometimes happens with computer systems happened. It never happened before. Hopefully, it will never happen again. A record was unexplainably “jumbled”. I am sure it happened at about 10:55AM. So what? I was trying to leave to make my 1:30 appointment to see the old bat cave. I didn’t get out until 12:30. Our system “help desk” – had some mushy explanation. I understand they have to come up with some answer. I am going to say that it was due to “Sunspots”. Old computer hacks know that you can not fix a bug that you can not recreate. Sunspots.

Sad: What can I say about the killings in Charleston? What can anyone say? Evil. Pure evil.

The asylum called. I passed the mental exam. Silly people. They have no idea that they have let the original cage rattler into the asylum. And, it seems that due to residents moving to the next level – a more gracious unit has become available. It is 600 sq feet on the 11th floor with a “lovely city view”. Well, the view will not be as lovely as my current view is… but it will be better than 347 sq feet on the 7th floor with a “lovely grocery store parking lot view.”

This unit is in its original 1985 condition – so, renovations will be in order if I decide that it is my final destination. The new option costs more, but still way less than I am paying now. Not to mention the weekly maid and linen service, plus one meal a day. Inspection tour of the unit tomorrow.

Emptied the Airness’s trash can. Restarted the Airness. And checked the available disk space.

Apparently this is a rather common harmless “known issue” with OS X. I could use 140 terabytes. I’d never have to cull photos again. And, that might not be a good thing.

Guess what? Eight months isn’t enough. I still miss that man. I was sort of paralyzed by grief this afternoon. I approach grief by going into Energizer Bunny mode. The paralyzed parts were at war with the Energizer Bunny parts. It was well over 90 degrees, but I grabbed the camera and went bee hunting. Grief didn’t go away. But, bee hunting beats sitting on the floor crying.

After I do some yoga, I think I’ll pack a box. I don’t know where I am going to be moving to. I don’t know when I am moving. But, I am going to go some where. So, I may as well start packing. (Still haven’t heard from the asylum.)

But, on a positive note. The Donald is running for prez. Let the fun begin.

No news from the asylum as to the results of my mental interview. Wish Carlton had been in the room. He would have aced it. Charmed the panties right off the interviewers. What if I flunked my entrance exam to the asylum? What if there is no old bat cave for me? It will be pretty embarrassing if I can not get in. But, it would make a good story.

Assuming I am going to get in the asylum… attacked two vintage piles of junk in my “home office area”. As best I can tell, the piles were two years old. Scraps of photos, negatives, notebooks. I tossed some of the stuff. And, fitted the rest into one of Carlton’s many old tennis shoe boxes. I will move these to the old bat cave.

Made a little experiment with the android-Pod camera. I put one of the old photos on the window ledge and took a picture. Two years ago, I had scanned – using my rather poor scanner – here are the results.

 

This was Henderson Harbor NY – sometime in the late 1990’s. Thanks Mr C. We had a lot of great road trips.

Think I’ll print up the test photos. The android-pod approach is sure easier…

I also decided to digitize all my negatives. (I should rethink this.)

 

Yes, they shave their legs. Always have, for as long as I can remember. And, I have been a fan of bike racing for decades. They believe it makes them faster. And, it sure shows off the legs nicely. Most of them shave their arms too. As I said, buff guys in spandex.

Today I realized that the old bat cave is 2 inches too short for my beloved carpet. Well, the carpet is just going to have to deal with being folded or rolled at one end until a larger cave opens up.

I spent Carlton’s last tax refund on a Nexus 6 – I still haven’t decided what carrier to use – so it is still a HUGE android-Pod. Today, I remembered that the thing has a camera. So, I took it for a little test photo walk. A thunder storm came up – so the testing was cut short.

It isn’t too shabby as a camera.

As for the whole android experience. Well, it isn’t as sleek as iOS. Sort of like the A-Team did the apps for iOS and the B-Team made the android versions. Note to Apple: The BACK arrow is very nice. And, I completely forgot that my collection of earbuds/phones with mics and controls only work with i-devices. The ear part works – but the control/mic parts don’t.

Did a little work to help getting ready to move to the bat cave today. Things like measuring the rug and taking into account things like radiators. Also, consolidated Carlton’s three investment binders into one. I squeezed Carlton’s old tax returns into my tax records box. Mr C kept returns for 6 years. I keep them 4 years. Mr C now keeps returns for 4 years. I would like to keep this box in the storage cage. But, it might not be the smartest move.

Gotta get back with the getting ready to move program.