Category: The DayBook

Elevator  1: Down
Elevator  2: Down
Elevator  3: Down
Elevator  4: Down
Elevator  5: Also Down

Current transportation method: Medieval.

Modern infrastructure reveals itself to be more aspirational than actual. We are told repairs are underway. Parts are coming. Residents trapped downstairs huddle in the lobby.  And, gravity remains fully functional.

Saint Quattuora has entered witness protection.

Original version of today’s post follows.

Looking for SPRING today.

Never mind that snow is on the menu for tomorrow.
My watch cheerfully informed me that 2–4 inches may fall.
That doesn’t sound too serious.

I made it a point to go outside this morning, looking for signs of life.

The elevator situation remains unchanged. I logged 42 floors on the watch yesterday. At this rate, I’ll either be in excellent cardiovascular condition or in need of replacement knees. Possibly both.

And one more thought. Great Britain arrested their bad boy. We, on the other hand, seem content to let ours continue dismantling the place.

Still one elevator today. But they did get the freight elevator working, so now we have a backup. Doesn’t matter. I’ve given up elevators for Lent.

My watch gave me credit for 23 floors yesterday. By my count, I came up three times. Eleven floors each time. That’s 30. But don’t argue with your watch. You will never win that battle.

About today’s image. I’m doing a last culling of 2025 photos and ran across this one from Wrangell last July. It looks completely fake. Like something you’d see framed on the wall at a Holiday Inn. Except it’s real. Entirely real. I took it myself with my telephone. Which is miraculous.

Protect us, Saint Quattuora.

Today we have one elevator.
The Old Bat’s Cave has become The 11th Floor Walkup.
I am giving up elevators for Lent.
Seriously, I am grateful that I can walk up to 11.

The Litany of Saint Quattuora

Patron Saint of Elevators and the Long Wait

O Saint Quattuora,
Guardian of shafts and sovereign of cables,
Keeper of flickering indicators and reluctant doors,
Look kindly upon this eleventh-floor pilgrim.

Send us a car that moves with purpose,
That does not hesitate between floors,
That opens without drama
And closes without reconsideration.

Deliver us from handwritten signs,
From blinking error codes,
And from the phrase “scheduled maintenance.”

And grant that when we press “Up,”
The machinery share our purpose.

Preserve our knees,
Strengthen our breath,
And let at least one elevator be working.

Amen.

(Feast day observed whenever more than one elevator functions simultaneously.)

And thanks to OpenAI for the artwork and poem assistance. Quattuora is a made-up Latin word. Because everything sounds more important in Latin.

Technology today: getting the new scanner working.

Download driver.
Install driver.
Download firmware update.
Install firmware update.
Download software from the App Store.
Install the app.
Download additional software from inside the app.
Install that software.
Finally — scan something.

It works.

And I can’t help but wonder: what do 80-something people do with new hardware if they aren’t old, washed-up computer hacks?

Meanwhile.

What am I going to do about the concentration camps that ICE is building?

Am I going to sit here in my cosy apartment and quietly optimize my scanner settings?

History is not vague about this. In 1930s Germany, most people did not goose-step. They stayed home. They adjusted. They told themselves there was nothing they could do. They folded laundry. They made dinner. They kept their heads down.

Is that what I am doing?

Canceling the Washington Post.
Killing Amazon Prime.
Writing virtual checks.

Is this resistance?

Had a “checkup” with my lawyer today. I called the meeting. Want to be sure everything is OK for when nothing is OK.

She asks: What was your mother’s name? What was your father’s name? Where were you born? When were you born? What was your profession?
My response: And you need this? Why?
Lawyer says: For your Death Certificate.

That cuts right to the end of life chase, doesn’t it?

That’s one more thing that I can check off my “adulting” to do list. And yesterday I checked off the dentist. Where I escaped with just a cleaning.

Great day today. Lunar New Year and Fat Tuesday. I don’t know which to celebrate. How about both?

Being old means you can take a little trip down memory lane, remembering the day before Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, March 4, 2019.

Laissez les bons temps rouler.

All but the two newest orphans are either blooming or sending up flower stalks. I haven’t repotted the new ones yet. I got them up just before I left for Hawai‘i, so they’re still in “grocery store medium.” I seem to do better with my own medium and my own pots.

Gratitude

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Grateful that I can still do many of the things I want to do. I try not to dwell on the things I can’t do anymore. And then there are things like playing the cello. I cannot do that. Never mind that I never could.

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So, a very busy Old Lady Sunday:
Breakfast.
Water Orchids.
Wash Clothes.
One Mile Walk Outside.
Lunch – Mac & Cheese!
Read.
Blog…

I have many “adult” activities waiting for me next week. So this afternoon I am officially allowing myself to chill.

As promised. A warm snap. 54° at 2 PM. I went out for a 3-mile walk. I opened the windows. I wore a skirt. And carried my jacket home.

Which is not to say that walking was safe or easy. But, it was great to be OUT. And I returned home without falling.

Falls scare old people because falls kill old people. 

Rain is promised tomorrow. That should clean things up a bit. And the warm snap appears to continue through next week.  No problem with that. 

The morning was going along sweetly. The housekeeper was done. Another week without me changing sheets or washing the toilet. All good.

I fire up the computer to scan a receipt. Simple task. Paper goes in. Nothing happens. Try again. Nothing. Restart computer. Try again. Scanner software crashes.

Notice the scanner software updated on February 5. Ah-ha. That must be it. Two hours later I discover that macOS also updated on February 5.

So macOS finally killed off my 14 year old scanner’s driver and software. The scanner hasn’t been supported in years. I’ve been running it with a driver for a completely different scanner for at least five of those years. It worked beautifully. Until it didn’t.

The scanner itself is still great. But without a driver, it is now a very attractive paperweight.

Time for a new scanner. Fourteen years is good service. No complaints. Ordered a replacement from B&H Photo. Arriving Wednesday. Yes, I could have had one delivered today from Amazon. But I can wait. I’d rather send my money to those nice Jewish boys in NYC.

Still doing “stuff that has to be done.” I believe the kiddos call it adulting. Years ago I shared an office with a man who referred to “stuff that has to be done” as mephitic duties. He knew perfectly well that mephitic means foul-smelling. He simply thought it sounded right. It does.

Gratitude

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Grateful that I can still get around without any mobility assistance devices. Unless I am playing the old card. Then I deploy my cane.

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There are things I might want to do once the lawyer, taxes, dentist, routine bookkeeping, and assorted mephitic duties are handled.

I was a little concerned that my crappy circulation might impair healing. But the leg is all good. Well, as good as it was before the attack.

Today’s main event was a meeting with my lawyer to review plans for my general demise and death. Serious business. Heck, ChatGPT told me to wear real clothes. I was ready.

The lawyer was sick. Rescheduled for next week.

It was 45°. Time for a real walk. First one since St. Maarten. Well…

So, I paced around and around the Asylum’s salted walkways. Took the back way to the grocery. Logged about 3 miles. So. Exercise mission accomplished.

I paced past our Little Library several times.

I always liked XP. I was sad when it finally retired. I also spotted a much-read copy of Artemis Fowl. Hope some kid from across the street discovers it.

Also paced past our “water feature” several times. I am sure the birds appreciate open salt-free water.

Whatever happened was what I planned.

A day above freezing. I believe that the Arctic freeze is ending. But, I still haven’t ventured out past the porte-cochère. Still trying to tie up loose ends today. Also starting on my taxes, and getting ready for the lawyer tomorrow.

Gratitude

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Grateful for Zoom Yoga.

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The tax boy has new software. I have to do very, very little. Which is good. But I don’t exactly trust it either. I feel like one should DO taxes. Taxes should be mentally and even physically taxing. Even when paying someone to do taxes, there should be pain. 

I secretly suspect that AI will be doing my taxes. Or some person in the Philippines. Did you read that Waymo vehicles are “controlled” by humans in the Philippines? Yeah. That’s scarier than “driverless”. Progress.