Coffee heat rising

Idle essays

Joys of Olde Age

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Grrrrrrr!!!!!!  Have you noticed that as you get older, you find it harder and harder to get routine things done?

The stupidest things become major freakin’ hassles!

6:15 this morning: 

Charging around the backyard, trying to get the potted plants watered before the dog and I go out for this a.m.’s doggy-walk. Checking on the pool. Generally f*rting around…when OUCH!!!

A fine stab of pain in the sole of the left foot.

WTF???  Did I step on something?

Inspect the ground: yeah. Sure did: stepped on a bee that somehow had been becalmed on the pool’s Cool-Deck.

Awwww, geez. What is THAT gonna do to me?

Far as I know, I’m not allergic to bees. But it being 6:15 in the morning, don’t you just KNOW that if I’m ever gonna develop an allergy to bee stings, this will be the time!

Tromp in the house, retrieving the dog on the way. Slather pain-killer on foot.

Burning calms down a bit.

Can I get away with walking the dog? She needs her doggy-walk, and I need the exercise, too.

Put down food for the dog.

Hungry. Headachey. Slice a piece of bread for an on-the-run snack. Stale. Wouldncha know. 

Time to decide: Can I safely get away with walking around the neighborhood on the be-stung foot?

Probably. But what if I can’t?  Then what am I gonna do at 6:30 in the morning over on the far side of the ‘Hood?

Neighbors have reported coyote encounters in recent days.

Don’t you just know that if we limp out there, this morning will be the time we come nose-to-nose with one of those critters?

Ruby looks depressed. She wants to go out.

With coyotes running up & down the alleys, I can’t let her out to putter around the backyard alone.

Bees. Dogwalks. Coyotes. Park full of bums. Hunger. And the day has hardly even begun!

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.

And now: Eeeeeeps!

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WTF? 

Something there is about that sky that is giving this old bat the Serious Creeps. 

Further creepifying: I dunno what the “something” is. 

What we have out there is…hmmm….

heat

high, fat cumulus style clouds

heat

mugginess

heat

high, thin  web-like clouds drifting in with the cumulus clouds

heat

mugginess….

WTF? What IS it trying to say to us?

****

My guess is that we’ll find out along about 9:00 or 10:00 tonight. And the utterance will be KERR-BOOOOOOM!!!!!

Yeah. Looks to me like quite the desert storm a-drifting in.

Wunderground, au contraire, predicts a 6% chance of precip.

Yeah. Right, guys. Didja accidentally drop a zero next to that six?

{Gasp!} {Pant!!}

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Lordie, it is HOTTER THAN THE HUBS OF HADES out there. Two o’clock in the afternoon and it’s 100 degrees in the deepest dark of the back-porch shade structure. Or… 105 degrees, according to Wunderground.

So much for any bright ideas I might have had about making a run on the corner Fry’s or the Sprouts a few blocks down the road.

Non-negotiable!

This summer does indeed seem hotter than normal. But it’s really not that hot: 100 degrees is par for the course…if anything, it’s a little cool for an August afternoon.

But it’s humid (in Arizona terms…that ain’t very). Some clouds are coming up around the horizon…and hereabouts, any moisture in the air makes the air seem hotter than it is.

At any rate: so much for any planned junkets to the nearby stores. I ain’t a-goin’ out in THAT stuff!!! Those stores open as dawn cracks, so it should be possible to shoot into the Fry’s and out before the real heat comes up.

Oddly, it seems a little hot for late August in lovely uptown Phoenix. That’s because the wildest of the monsoon season normally strikes in August: billowing thunderclouds, crazy rainstorms. The rain will usually cool the temperature into the 90s before sunset. Maybe.

We shall see.