life in the old lane

Need a break. Maybe in Rangiroa atoll in French Polynesia.

And why do I need a break. I need a break because I spent most of the afternoon filling out the application for the old folks asylum. I think the application is an alzheimer’s test. I would be finished – except my printer ran out of ink. I have to submit 3 years of tax returns. And the ink finished about 4 pages before the tax returns were all printed out. This process is sort of like trying to join an exclusive country club or buy into a New York co-op apartment.

We still have to sign a bunch of documents. Including an attestation that we are not sex offenders. Think about it. Senior Sex Offenders…

I don’t plan on going anywhere until the spring of 2016. I’ll be old enough for seated yoga and dinner at 7PM by then. Maybe.

Enjoy every sandwich: one of my favorites – turkey-swiss-coleslaw.

Well, manhole covers are a heck of a lot easier to photograph than say birds or hornet! And, they are rather interesting.

Trying to get it together enough to complete the application to the old folks asylum. I keep “selecting” myself out of the picture. I am “too young” to move into such an establishment. But, this is a good time to consider such a move.

1.  The move would not be until the spring of 2016.
2.  Carlton is in remission right now. So, I am not a distracted caregiver.
3.  When Carlton (or I) get really sick, it would be good to be somewhere with help.
4.  If I don’t decide, someone else will.
5.  I am pretty sure I care more than anyone else about where I live.
6.  Not Cherrydale nursing home!
7.  Not Vitas Hospice (owned by RotoRooter)!
8.  But, I keep thinking “I am too young.”
9.  Nobody is promised tomorrow.

The intellect is willing. But the heart isn’t in it. Yet. And, the “good” places all have waiting lists. Just get on a waiting list. Just Do It.

Enjoy every sandwich – cheese and chicken quesadilla.

A couple of weeks ago, I got on this macro photography kick. I have been to the Nature Conservancy Weed Lot at least 5 times. Armed with my trusty cheapass macro lens. And, the place has been full on gold finches. SO, today – I strapped on my favorite longish lens and went to the Nature Conservancy. And there were NO NONE ZERO ZIP gold finches. American or otherwise. I rounded up a sparrow. So much for my nature photography.

This must be my weekend for cooking – made a nice pot roast this morning. We had pot roast, baked sweet potatoes and broccoli for lunch.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: We had cheese burgers last night – so tonight – we’ll be having grilled smoked gouda and peach sandwiches. On wheat.

Am I going to break down and get a “smart phone” this year??? Am I really going to spring for an iPhone 6??? Why not just get a Nexus 5??? They cost about 1/2 what an iPhone costs. Or am I going to continue with my antique very dumb cell phone + iPad with a cell data plan? There really isn’t anything wrong with that setup – as long as t-Mobile continues to offer my “legacy” plan.

There is “my” room in Kona. Hoping we can get there this winter. But, I am scared to buy the tickets until say maybe the day before we are going leave. Last year we had to cancel our tickets and we were VERY lucky to get our money back. Not going to count on that ever happening again.

So, we plan to get our okole to Kona around Halloween. But, no tickets yet. The connections to Kona are still pretty lousy. But, 24 hours of airline torture yields days and days of Hawaiian pleasure.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Think it has to be grilled cheese and tomato.

I made a killer pot of “garbage soup” today. All summer long I stashed little scraps to this and that in the freezer. Today, I added an onion and a couple of portobello mushrooms to the mix and about an hour later – “garbage soup”. Since I am thinking about Hawai’i – Onolicious. 

Bill Y – hope you and your stuff made it to Honolulu in good order.

No way was I getting close enough to make a macro shot of not one but two kinds of hornets.  They were interested in tree sap. But, I didn’t want them to mistake me for a nice juicy snack.

In the world of flying stinging beasties. Hornets are worse than wasps and lots worse than bees. So, until I get a longer macro lens – that is it for hornets. And, you will never see a picture of yellow jackets. No matter how long my lens is. I am scared of yellow jackets.

I was trying to get the blue tint of these wasp wings – but no luck. I did get up close.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: BLT

Love those little flying critters.

We still remember 9/11 here in Arlington.

Interstate 66 bisects our county. But, it is sunken – residents put up flags on all the freeway overpasses – so every commuter coming through the county are are reminded.

Remember Pearl Harbor, remember Manzanar, remember Nagasaki, remember the St Louis. Remember 9/11.

Enjoy every sandwich: Tuna for me, tuna melt for Mr C.

Nice afternoon. The cheapass macro lens and I went out looking for bugs. I sneaked up on a fine brown butterfly. Haven’t ID’ed it yet.  But, I like the silvery dots on the antenna.

Carlton is still “fine”. So “fine” that he ordered a new pair of tennis shoes. Well, actually, I ordered them. But, it is the first time he ever got shoes “from the internet”. Guess what, they arrived today and he likes then.

Enjoy every sandwich. Thinking about fish tacos maybe.

The photograph is from film-time, 1992, The Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee.

I think I finished up my photo book from 1992.

And, why am I a little uneasy? Mr C allowed as how he had a “period” of double vision on the tennis courts this morning. I am trying to not make a deal out of it – because – if I make a deal out of it – he will not tell me if/when it happens again. No, of course he will not go see a doctor about it. So don’t even mention it. OK?

He went on and finished playing tennis – well – actually he opponent had to retire due to dizziness himself. Those old men need a medic on the sidelines! After that he repaired his bike and spent the afternoon volunteering. So, he is “fine”.

On the happy side – he was surprised to discover that today was his last day of radiation. He thought he had another week.

Enjoy every sandwich: Chicken Salad.

Nothing at all going on here today. And, there isn’t anything wrong with that.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Teriyaki Chicken and pineapple.

It cooled off last night, so no excuse to not knock out my five miles. So, off I went with the Olympus and the cheap-ass macro lens. The cheap macro lens works just fine as a cheap 70mm lens. But, this sure isn’t a macro.

And, neither is this. I was trying sneak up on this wasp. But, when I would get close – Mr (or is it Ms) wasp would take off. So, here we have an inflight view of the Digger Wasp.

The female builds nests in the ground. They are welcome in the garden because they kill beetle grubs.

We had chicken and mashed potatoes with the “last” of the summer tomatoes for lunch. Some sort of quesadilla for our Enjoy Every Sandwich supper.

I almost forgot. 50 years ago today – the most memorable political advertisement of all time aired on TV.

The Daisy Ad – check it out. 

It is still way too hot tramp around looking for things to photograph. I did log 5.35 miles on the FitBit this morning. I made the rounds of the Farm Market, the supermarket, Trader Joe and Whole Foods. I cleaned out the fridge last week, so some restocking was in order.

Back to my campaign to scan all the old photos. I was doing that last fall when Carlton took a turn for the worse. That Grand Canyon is one of my favorites. I wish I still had the negative. I guess, that after this shot, I should be glad that I still have Carlton!

Enjoy Every Sandwich – I am thinking fish tacos maybe. We had sausage, zucchini, tomatoes for lunch. That was good. And pumpkin pie. The idea being that the pumpkin pie would make it seem like fall and therefore it would be seem cooler than 95°

Yes, there is something worse than adult diapers – a “senior computer”.

You can order one for your least favorite old person at: http://www.mywowcomputer.com/

Actually, I am guessing that it is Linux based – so, it might be better than your average Windows machine. Nevertheless, if I ever order one – just shoot me.

Still HOT HOT HOT. I did not go out for my afternoon photo stroll. I took a nap. That is what we old people do.

Enjoy Every Sandwich – Mr C asked for Cheese Burgers.

(Going to update to Word Press 4.0 now – you may never see this post.)

Well, here we are. All updated. Looks the same. So, so far so good.