Coffee heat rising

Aging in place

GRONK! Another sylvan day in Arizona

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Grrrr!!!  I AIN’T GOIN’!!! No, nope, nooooo way! Not goin’ out in that unholy swampy heat to hike three blocks to a grocery store. The dawg and I can go hungry, by dayum!

Truth to tell, neither of us is about to go hungry. The larder has enough dog & human food to tide us over for several days. After which, we may hope, my present spate of crabbiness will have passed.

Seriously: What DO we need?

* Not dog food: three or four cans lurk in the storage room.
* Not human food. What remains on the shelves may not be the most delicious chow on the planet, but it’s perfectly OK and it’s unspoiled.
* Not wine. We’re on the wagon.
* Not cleaning goods. Everything is in stock.
* Not anything that I can think of, offhand.

And I figure that if you can’t think of it, you must not need it very badly. 😀

Hope that’s true, because I just made up my mind to skip this morning’s planned grocery junket.

Seriously: The weather is REVOLTING this morning. Hot, soggy, hazy, uggh-leee. Probably won’t be any better tomorrow…but if I can put off this hiking trip until tomorrow, maybe I’ll resent it a little less

***

Check this out: Duet: Partners in Health and Aging.  Apparently this is a volunteer group that will send folks out to do your grocery shopping or drive you around the city or whatever.

I’ve tried to reach them: no one answers the phone at their office. Apparently the “group” of volunteers isn’t large enough to man the phones. But…what the hey! Later today, I’ll try again.

If I can foist the annoying errands onto someone else, that will solve a HUGE  part of the problems poised by those idiots at the Mayo Clinic having put the kaibosh on my driver’s license.

There may be some other volunteer organization of this ilk. If today’s effort to get through to Duet fails, I’ll see if anyone else out there is in the free-help biz.

*****  Later ****

Yes…I did get through to someone at Duet.

To avail oneself of their benefits, you have to sign up with them and give them a bunch of private information. And they demand your phone number.

I explained that, because of the outrageous number of nuisance calls I get — day in and day out — I’ve had to block incoming from all but a few area codes.

He just didn’t seem to “get it.” Truly: I don’t think he understood what I was saying:  eight or ten nuisance calls a day naturally leads to one rejecting most incoming calls.

So…I don’t expect to get far with that bunch.

Ohhhh well. The world hasn’t ended yet. Probably won’t, in the near future.

Soggy Doggy Day

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Wait what? You say the sky is supposed to be blue??? Where DID you get that idea? 😀

Another gray, soggy day. Grayer, even, than the last two days, which have been passing grim.

When you are a corgi, though, you don’t put up with any bellyaching from the Human. So, at Ruby’s behest, it was out the door and off to circumambulate the park, as usual.

And to the Human’s surprise, that worked out pretty well! We did not get rained on. Most of the usual dog-walkers, having more sense than the Human, were hiding out. The cloud cover kept the temperature in the comfortable range. Gee…kinda reminded one of San Francisco.

We probably should go up to the nearby grocer’s and pick up a little more food. But that would require hauling out of our chair and walking around, which is more than the Human feels like fooling with just now. In fact, there’s more than enough chow for both the Human and the Hound to cover the next two or three days.

So…we’ll take our chances.

The hip does hurt, though. A lot: especially if I sit or lay around awhile. What makes it better — other than aspirin — is getting up and walking. But that, of course, is ominously like (gag!) work.

Passed the night in nightmares about living in an old-folkerie. My father, as I may have mentioned in an earlier post, signed himself into one of those. But…he didn’t mind institutional living, having gone to sea all his adult life.

He ran away from home at 17, lied about his age, and weaseled his way into the Coast Guard. From there, it was into the Navy, and after that, a life-long career in the Merchant Marine.

Me, I hate bad food. I hate the sound of the neighbors’ TV, radio, and shower running. I just don’t like living with people. Gimme a dawg as a room-mate, any day.

Ruby is now conkered out on the floor. Looks like tromping around in the sticky, humid heat is a bit hard on her. Hope that’s the issue, and not some ailment.

😮

Speaking of tromping around in the heat, though…  One thing that I’ve discovered, quite handily, through the late series of misadventures is the amazing fact that you don’t really need a car to get around this neighborhood just fine! 

Consider: Within easy walking distance of my house, we have THREE major supermarkets…and that’s if you don’t consider Sprouts a supermarket.

Me, I regard Sprouts as a kind of specialty store. And it’s just three or four blocks down the street.

We also have…

  • a dentist
  • a hair stylist
  • a computer store
  • a Walgreen’s
  • a discount clothing store
  • two major supermarkets
  • a car rental and tire shop
  • a car mechanic’s shop
  • a 24-hour doctor’s office
  • A veterinarian

And on and on…

So, I guess if you’ve just gotta get yourself crippled up, this is the place to do it!

Loaf-ifariousness

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Loafing seems to have become the Order of the Day. Ruby is snoozing at the foot of the bed. The Human regards the mere thought of getting off the sack and doing something constructive with…well…horror.

😀

It’s a decently walkable day, actually. A mere 101° in the shade of the back porch, as we’re pushing noon.

That notwithstanding, I’m just not up for hiking to any of the three grocery stores within walking distance. Nor do I feel in the mood to pay an Uber dude to drive me to a store and wait around until I come out with a basketful of purchases.

All of it: waaaayyyy too much like work!

😀

And the fact of the matter is, we have enough canned dawg food to last for at least a week — and maybe a day or two more. The Human also has enough frozen and packaged chow to last her a week or so, too. Soooo….there really is no need to go charging out into the heat to restock the larder.

I’m thinking some Planned Loafing is in order. Decide on a menu that will last as long as Ruby’s stores will last — a week or ten days. Then figure out if some step-&-fetchit service can bring another week or ten days’ worth. And during that time? LOAF.

Loaf, loaf, loaf, and loaf some more. A civilized way of putting that would be REST. 

Rest until the sore hip heals up (if it will)

Rest until the peripheral neuropathy stops buzzing (if it will)

Rest until some serious swimming-pool exercises can get done (if they will)

Rest until Gerardo’s guys come around to renovate the back yard (if they will)

And so on to luxurious infinity! Seriously: just lay off throwing myself around, arrange to have Uber or another cab service schlep me around, pray for the best…and see what happens. Maybe a couple weeks of loafing will bring this spate of weird ailment to an end…

Cool Dude!

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My son: definite COOL DUDE. 

The man took time off his job(!!) to schlep me up to the Mayo Clinic, there to get a blood test. That’s a bit of a drive, and as you know, sitting around a doctor’s waiting room is always an efficient use of your time. /eyeroll/

Drove me out to the fringe of Ritzy-Titzyville, drove me home, helped with a bunch of ditz… Dang! How nice, eh?

Once left alone back here, I realized a grocery trip was in order. But…it’s hotter than the hubs out there this afternoon. So…guess I’ll wait till sunset and then make a run on the Sprouts or the Fry’s supermarket to pick up bread and dog food and whatnot.

A nuisance, but better than going out there in this heat!

Y’know…this is one of the most conveniently located neighborhoods in the city: not one, not two, but three major grocery markets within easy walking distance. Plus a veterinarian. A hair stylist. A computer store. A Bookman’s. And on and on and on. Truth to tell, between those stores and Amazon, I really hardly even need to leave my house to get my shopping done. Just call ’em on the phone and they’ll deliver!

Seriously! These days, I go into stores to shop more out of boredom than for any need to select loot.

This evening, I’ll hit the supermarket to pick up a few more cans of dog food for Ruby, a jar of maple syrup, a box of tea bags, and whatnot. None of this stuff is urgent…and so the truth is, I may not bother.

Recently the prospect of following SDXB and New Girlfriend out to Sun City has crossed my fevered little mind. But…y’know…  I don’t wanna. 

First, because it’s a bitch of a drive into this part of town from unlovely Sun City. And my son lives here, not anywhere down in that direction. I just don’t see enough of an advantage to living in Old Folks’ Central to actually move out there.

Second. because Sun City is right under the Luke Air Force Base flight path. And so…NOISE???  Lemme tellya NOISE!!!!!

The pilots start their daily practice at dawn, and the jets roar back and forth and up and down for a good four hours. You can’t sit on your back porch without being blasted off your chair.

Hilariously, my mother used to pretend she actually liked that racket. “It’s the sound of freedom!” she used to simper.

Uhm. No, Mom: it’s the sound of World War III, comin’ your way. 

She used to drive me crazy with that “sound of freedom” BS. But I guess she believed it. And hey: whatever makes ya happy, eh?

You can hear those jets blasting all the way up here in North Central: that’s a good 20 miles. Or more. The racket as heard from my parents’ back porch, 20 miles closer to the base, was freakin’ deafening. 

Ohhh well.

So here I am, all alone in fancy-Dan North Central, without any other old buzzards around to keep me company. If I’d get off my duff and go to the church, I surely would make friends and find folks to fill some time. But…well…religion isn’t really my Thing.

And truth to tell, I don’t know of anything else that goes on in the central  part of Phoenix that appeals to me.

Guess I could go back to teaching adjunct in the junior colleges.

But…uhm… Y’know…  That’s work! And I do have a moral objection to that stuff. 😉

Hiking in the nearby desert preserves fills some time. But…man! I’ve had a couple of real creepy experiences up there, and so these days feel little enthusiasm for tromping around the foothills by myself. My friends have all moved to Sun City and waypoints, or else passed away. And so just now I don’t know anyone who would like to keep me company (and act as de facto bodyguard) on those early-morning, pre-hot hours strolls.

Alas, Cool Dude fills his daytime hours with that job of his. So…that doesn’t leave a lot of choice in ways to occupy one’s retirement hours.

****

WOW, is it hot out there. The thermometer doesn’t seem to think so: it’s only registering 105 degrees. But man! Walk out that back door, and it feels like you’re walking into an oven!

Guess it must be a little humid. That’s what makes Arizona heat feel like actual heat. 

Anyway….that will moot tonight’s doggy-walk, for sure. And take care of any silly ideas I might have had about walking up to the grocery store. FORGET that!! 😀

and soooo….

Out the door at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. That’s when the nearest grocers open. In an hour, I can collect enough loot to reload the pantry and get back here just in time to evade the first blast of heat.

 

Hotter than the Hubs

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And now it’s Saturday, a morning not one whit better than the one that came before and the one that came before that.

HOT. Hot hot hot. 95 degrees in the shade of the back porch.

Clammy.

Sticky. 

Little dawg is scarfing water so frantically she’s choking on it. Human is about to melt. Icky day, and the sun is barely up.

Far as I can see, there’s nothing on the calendar for this Saturday. Sure hope not! ‘Cause if there is, I’m sure not up for it!!!

8:39 in the morning. My son is probably still in the sack…I hope so, because he deserves it. Traveled all over the country. Surged from pillar to post. Worked his a$$ off.

But I should email him (which at least won’t wake him up) and ask if I can take him to lunch, today or tomorrow.

URK! Running low on dawg kibble. Ruby feasts on an overpriced fancy-dan kibble, available locally at the overpriced fancy-dan AJ’s grocery store. Without a car, I’ll have to put my son up to driving me down there, or else hike to Central avenue and catch a bus.

No.

And No.

Turns out we can order this stuff from Amazon. Fifteen bucks for a five-pound bag.

Hm. Exorbitant. But….could be worth it, to avoid having to navigate around in this heat and humidity.

Dang!  Let’s see if the kid will tolerate getting together this weekend. If so, he can drive me down there, or pick up a bag and bring it up here. Otherwise, I’ll get Amazon to ship it.

IMHO, Amazon’s service pays for its over-pricing in spades.

Grrr! Makes a Landlord Look Good!

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Here’s another fine hassle to fart with this morning: check all the attic fans to see if they fall into this category.  And thereby need to be replaced….

Arrrggghhhh! This is the kind of BS that makes you feel that renting is a good thing, as opposed to owning your place. If I lived in an apartment — or, hell, if some other poor sucker owned the Shack and just rented it to me — someone else would be trudging around the perimeter eyeballing the roof. In the heat. When they’d druther be taking a nap…

***

Far’s I can see, the Shack is not equipped with these things. Its attic is vented with heat-driven whirligig vents.

Well, that’s something, anyway.

Y’know…much as I do enjoy the Funny Farm, with all its space for the dog and its nifty swimming pool and its central location and its (mostly) cool neighbors, sometimes I think…I just don’t wanna live here. Sometimes I think I’druther live in a nice high-rise apartment, with an awesome view  and an army of hired help doing battle with the maintenance.

Now: what next?

Mwa hah hah! Just you wait!