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Gettin’ Old…how is it possible???

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Gosh. As dawn cracked this morning, I happened to think of a long-gone Arizona Highways colleague, Jerry Jacka. He was one of the great landscape photographers of the Western World…I’ll tellya! Look him up in the Font of All Electronic Wisdom (the Internet, of course) and discover…my gawd! He was EIGHTY-THREE when he croaked over. And that was in 2017!!!

I myself must be older than Methuseleh (not doin’ the math: don’t wanna know!). LOL! No wonder I hurt from stem to stern and back again…all. the. time.

Y’know…I’ve not been conscious of that much time passing. Don’t pay attention to birthdays. Don’t really care and don’t wanna know. But truth to tell, Jerry and I were about the same age. That he has croaked over and someone new is living in his handsome Southwestern-style house is NOT a good sign…

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Not much longer for me, I’m afraid.

Women in my family — those who didn’t drink and didn’t smoke — lived to ripe old ages. My great-grandmother, Gree, was 90 years old when she died. Her daughter, my great-aunt, also lived to age 90…so we’re told. I believe she was older than that — but for sure, she wasn’t any younger.

They were both devout Christian Scientists: never saw a doctor, never swallowed anything that looked like a medicine. And surely never swilled any booze.

Who can imagine how long they might have lived if they’d had medical care!

As for moi, truth to tell none of these pills seems to be doing a damn thing to help pain. About all they’re doing is making my ears ring!

→ My hands still hurt.
→ My hips still hurt.
→ My lips still hurt.
→ The gums around my upper teeth still hurt.
→ The soles of my feet still feel like an electric current is zapping through them…

hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt 

And frikkin’ never stop hurting!

Whatddaya bet I won’t live longer than to age 90, either? 😀

One can only hope…

😀  😮  😀

 

Wow! AWESOME!

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Which is to say: AWESOME afternoon!  What a beautiful day!

When my Realtor friend John Shackelford brought me to the ‘Hood, lo! these many years ago, he could not have done me a bigger favor. This middle-aged North Phoenix tract really is a beautiful little mid/middle-class neighborhood, perfect in every way.

Seriously! It IS in the middle of everything: you don’t have to walk far to get to any store, any professional’s office, any car shop, any ANYTHING you like. Drop the jalopy off wherever you please, wander away, and come toddling back…yes…whenever you please.

The ambience is safe. Thugs do not holler at you as they barrel past on a main drag. Every corner has a tidy little shopping center. There’s a church across the street. And a school across the street. And a car repair shop up the street. And….and…and on and on.

Seriously, indeed: I do feel like I just fell into it when I bought into this neighborhood.

This afternoon, it was over to my favorite little booze shop, thereinat to buy a six-pack of Kilt-Lifters. Then homeward, ever homeward…hereinat to love up the dog and fork over a couple of fistfuls of kibble as a treat for her. Then pour a beer, sit down, and put up the feet.

Gosh! What a day, eh?

We live in such a pretty little neighborhood! I’m SOOOOO glad I didn’t follow SDXB to dreary Sun City when he decided to escape Tony the Romanian Landlord by moving out to Old Folks’ Land. Gaaaahhhh!  When I lived out there with my parents, I learned to hate…

  • …the sound of F-16s roaring overhead all day
  • …the hatred of young people, creatures the locals moved out there to escape
  • …the ticky-tacky architecture
  • …the third-rate grocery stores (do old people not eat, not cook???)
  • …the endless, endless, FUKKIN’ ENDLESS drive into town, whereinat to buy a decent steak…

LOL! If you’re gonna live in a city, forgodsake LIVE IN A CITY. 😀

LOL! It Gets Stupider and Stupider!!!

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ooooohboy!!!!!! This is ONE OF THOSE DAYS!!!!

One of the days where EVERY GODDAMN THING I TOUCH goes SPROOOOOIIIINNNNGGGGGG!!!!

Seems to be a rather more extreme Sproingy-Day than usual, too. 

Forgot that today was Cleaning-Lady Day. So the wonderful Luz showed up as I was loafing and playing with the computer, and o’course the damn place is a mess.

DAAAYYY-UMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

  • Leap up.
  • Charge around.
  • Put things away.
  • Put things away.
  • Put things away.
  • Put…no! REPAIR this goddam thing.
  • Repair another thing.
  • Repair another thing.
  • Put more stuff away.

Ohhhkayyyy…there! That’s done. I guess.

Now look at notes on computer and see I was supposed to have done a test for the corner doc’s office AND gathered some info for a young lawyer I may (or may not) want to recruit.

My dearly beloved lawyer dropped dead on the floor of his office a few weeks ago. No emergency being under way, I have lazily failed to recruit some other warrior…largely because I have no idea which way to turn.

* All the Old Guard lawyers I know have retired.
* Not having any luck getting referrals to any new folk.
* Found a young storefront lawyer just around the corner, but
a) Don’t know a thing about him; and
b) Have been too damn lazy to get off my duff and go see if he wants a crazy old lady as a new client.

 Just now…well… Gotta say: I am just not in the mood to charge into battle over any of these damn things. Plus having the cleaning lady underfoot does nothing to facilitate dealing with exterior hassles.

Welll…..

Really, I should go over and introduce myself to the young pup lawyer up the street. Not because I need his services, but because it’s always wise to have a professional of that type on the string BEFORE you need his or her services.

Well. There’s really no hurry. So I suppose that errand can wait until tomorrow, since we have plenty of other distractions running just now.

Right? If I wait until the beloved Wonder-Cleaning-Lady is done, that will be one distraction out of the way. So then I can focus on the proposed new guy…and, failing him, work on finding someone else to replace my late, much beloved (and useful) lawyer.

What a Godsend our wonderful Wonder-Cleaning-Lady is!!! She’s in there banging and scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing. Gawd knows, I am in NO condition to clean house. She’s only about 3/4 done, and the place already is practically spotless.

And…continuing in the Department of Stupid Weirdness…

I seem to have dropped an entire size in my blue jeans. But the bathroom scale doesn’t indicate I’ve lost any weight.

So….  Either the scale is on the fritz, or something has happened to stretch my pants up an entire size (!!!). Which is another way of saying SPROIIIINNNGGG!

…..

Hmmmm….  Apparently the solution to that puzzle is (b): somehow I’ve dorked up my jeans so they no longer fit.

Sunday Evening: November 9

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Whew! What a whirl, what a confusion, what a never-ending ongoing PITA!!!!!

Here we are: Sunday night.

The unholy hip pain is slightly milder. If this keeps on for a day or two, I could be persuaded (uhm…maybe) that it’s going to heal up.

My son having purloined my car puts me over several barrels…no doubt to his rich satisfaction. However…as I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, because of the way the neighborhood and its business district are laid out, the truth is that you don’t really need a car to reach all the services and products to keep you going. As a matter of fact, the exercise is no doubt good for you.

Hip pain or no pain, this afternoon I’ve walked to…hmmm…

* a record & media store
* a computer store
* a pet store
* a Sprouts
* an Albertson’s

…and on & on… Easy walking, entertaining stores, nice staff to chat with.

A-N-D…that’s going in only one direction: southerly!

If I chose to stroll north, I’d find a nice little wine shop, a huge Fry’s supermarket, a Walmart, a Big Five Sporting Goods, a Dollar Tree, and a raft of fast-food and kitsch stores.

Truth to tell, the Hood is surrounded by commerce, which makes it very practical, indeed, to live here without a car. But if I really wanted one, there’s a car rental place right up on the corner.

I’m thinking I may not bother to replace the Dog Chariot — especially given that we have an Uber driver living right across the street, and half a dozen more of them dwelling here in the ‘Hood. They can take me to doctors, dentists, veterinarians, & the like.

Why own a rolling hole in the ground into which to pour money if you don’t really need one?

November 4, continued….

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Some hours have passed since this morning’s post. My excellent son is presumably on his way over here to pick up the shopping list he asked for when he volunteered (!!!!!) to make a grocery run for me.  How cool IS that, anyway?

Now I won’t have to hike to the Sprouts or the Albertson’s to pick up a few provisions. Since summer is y’cumin’ in, this is a BIG help.

And…here he is!