And She Was...

Will today be a $300 vet visit (scan and checkup and ALL CLEAR!!) or a $2,500 (scan and surgery) vet visit? Arugh. But the second hardest part is getting the gabapentin into Biggie and that has been done. Not easy. He takes 3 pills a day and I can pretty much get those into him without issue but the gabapentin is in a capsule and it just does not want to go in. But, it's now done and I still have all my fingers so that's a win?

He's currently passed out in the closet where I hope he stays because if he gets into one of his beds under my bed, it will be a bitch to get him out and into the carrier. It's 8:30 now and his appointment is 10:15.

I had a lovely swim this morning. I listen to music while I swim and most of my music is pre-concert stuff that was played on the radio so the songs are all about 3 minutes long. I do about 100 yards in 3 minutes (it's actually a little under that but hey, I'm rounding). So 100 yards per song. It's a nice way to count. FYI Katy Ledecki does more than 100 yards in 1 minute but I don't think she listens to music. hahahahaha

One of the guys I play volleyball with is Wally. Wally just turned 90. He'd be skiing again this winter if we had any fucking snow. He's a rather spry 90. Anyway, last weekend, his two great grandsons were here and they played in the pool and banged the volleyball around. He said they had a great time. I've been thinking about that. The kids are 13 and 15. Imagine two young boys being forced to visit really old people in a 'home' but, yet, getting to play with their great grandfather in the pool. What fabulous memories they will have.

And on the other end of the scale... when someone dies here they put out their photo with their birth and death dates. I always check their birth year to make sure they were way older than me. I was born in the 40's and usually it's 20's or 30's so whew. BUT this week some dude died who was only 4 years older than me. That's crossing a line there.

Guess I'll go do some chores til vet time.

It's house cleaner day - pretty much my favorite day of the week. She only spends about an hour in here but really, it's perfect. Everything sparkles and the carpet stands up in rows. There is more mess around here today than usual and I'm not sure why. It won't take long to tidy and I don't really have to but it will give me that fresh start feeling which is lovely.

I got my eye appointment moved so tomorrow is Biggie only.

Volleyball was better than usual this morning. We had enough people for a good game, no one was particularly obnoxious and the play was good. The newest guy has had a hard time getting it but this morning, he did great.

I have a return to drop off at UPS. Does not have to be today but why not? I could do it while the house cleaner is here or I could just pop out this morning.

I rarely look back my sometimes glance at former years in my one-sentence-a-day five year book. This time last year I was stressed to the max about taxes and... it was snowing!! We had a few days of snow that were just lovely. This year, my taxes are all in hand but we have not the first snowflake. In fact it is supposed to hit 60 this week. Sigh.

I have made 20 Easter bunnies and would like to make at least 100. I'm going to keep making them until the end of February or until I can't stand them. I think I can get to 100 fairly easily. These have no neck ribbons yet or bunny ball tails. Martha is adding those.



Ok. I'm not dressed yet so I probably need to do that now. It's after 9!

These days in the Pacific Northwest are rainy and cloudy in the morning and sun shiney in the afternoons. Kind of perfect. And perfect for swimming but I think I'm going to pass today just because. Maybe.

On Sundays I generally stay in my apartment (Bonny calls it hibernating) and enjoy the heck out of that. And some Mondays, like today, I just want more. I don't have anywhere I need to go except maybe downstairs to pick up Amazon packages. If they come to the lockers, I pick them up. If they are dropped off at the front desk, they get delivered in the afternoons. I never know until they get here which way they are going. Usually it's lockers, but sometimes...

My latest obsession is makers on YouTube. I watch on my TV. There's the one very excellent guy, Pask Makes, from Australia who does fascinating work and makes great videos about them. He has a ton of videos and he's fascinating. And it seems way more productive than my previous obsession with watching Instagram videos of small children speaking in British accents. (Chances are they are actually British and not cheeky American or Canadian children with great linguistic chops but who really knows???)

I am caught up in the weirdest book. And I can't quit it. I'm a bully killer no personal life loaner thriller kind of reader. When I want something light, I go for a police procedural. This book is characterized as 'delightfully charming' something I am pretty sure I've been vaccinated against. And, yet... One sentence leads to the next and I have lost my will to stop. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett.

So I have plenty of entertainment and not massive chores that need doing and no one who's counting on me for anything. Perfect.

My brother and I had an email conversation today that led to my reflecting on my move here and I thought I'd outline my reflections.

In the Summer of 2023, I started thinking about finding a Continuing Care Retirement Community for me. I was 74. I had lived alone in the same place for more than 30 years. I was diagnosed with COPD which is degenerative and incurable. I was doing ok but for how long? My parents and my maternal grandparents had both spent their final years completely content in CCRC's. My grandparents' was a low rent church supported outfit and my parents' was a very high rent luxury place (which was actually church affiliated - Episcopal). I had already 'bought' into the concept. And somehow, I knew that there were long waiting lists - like 2 or 3 years so that I would have a nice long time to settle into the idea.

I started research online and found a list of places near Seattle. For a lot of reasons - and weather - I never really considered moving very far. I spent a long time on the websites of these places and eliminated them one by one. My reasoning was not at all sound. I had no idea what I was doing and had not done nearly enough preliminary research or thinking about the whole thing. So much of my decision was misguided and ill conceived.

Do not do it my way.

I found Timber Ridge online. It was classy looking. It was privately owned (not religiously affiliated). It was not far away (20-30 minutes from Seattle) in a town that I almost kinda knew. I'd worked in the Issaquah office of Microsoft in the mid-90's and I had very lovely feelings about the town. It's a wealthy town of mostly white people and that made me a little anxious. But, I could really not find any evidence of political issues so I plowed on.

It was the only place I actually visited or even actually talked to the management of.

Seriously do not do it my way.

I came and I liked what I saw and I was told the waiting list was probably about 2 years so I honestly figured my decision would not be binding at all. Two years to look at other places. That's what I thought.

Finances.

All CCRC's are different financially. But most are kind of designed to take the proceeds from the home you sell and hold those proceeds for years and charge you a monthly fee for housing, food, and a boatload of services. The bulk of the money is held in a non interest bearing state until you die and then you get it back. I paid Timber Ridge $40,000 for a place on the waiting list. Had I spent those two years looking at alternatives and found one, I would have gotten that $40,000 back.

Once you sign a contract, you pay them that giant lump sum (like those home sale proceeds). At Timber Ridge the sun is based on the size of the apartment you select. My apartment is the smallest they offer - 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath, 726 square feet. The largest is 2,273 square feet. I paid right at half a million as my lump sum. BUT when I give up this apartment (die, or move out of Timber Ridge), 80% of that half a million is returned to me or my estate. (There is also an hilarious clause that says if you don't die or move within 30 years, you get the 80% back anyway.)

Then you pay a monthly rent - mine is now $6,000 - and it includes nearly everything. Seriously. Food, bed, all maintenance, all utilities including cable TV and wifi, social life, transportation, classes, swimming, physical and mental health services. But, most of all, it covers the future. As I need more care, more care is here. Timber Ridge agrees to care for me until the end of my life. It's in the contract that we both signed.

Now, in my case, I think my COPD was a missed diagnosis. My medical records now say it has been 'resolved'. But, something will get me someday. And I have resources at my fingertips. Big things and small. Last week after I gave myself the Wegovy injection, I marched my two used pens down to the desk in the nursing unit and asked them to put them in their sharps bin. 'happy to!'

Had I done the research I should have and looked at all of the resources and different places around here and elsewhere like a reasonable person would do, would the outcome be different?

What happened to me is a bit of an anomaly. Less than a month after I handed over my $40,000 waitlist money and settled into for my 2 year wait, I got a call saying the apartment that was at the top of my list had come available and did I want it now. Yep. My two years got snatched right out from under me.

I could have said no. I probably should have said no. And then done the appropriate amount of thinking about it as well as the research and taken my chances on a different apartment.

But, I didn't. I said yes. I move in here on October 31, 2023. And in retrospect it was the right thing for me at the exact right time.

The problem with CRCC selection is that you really can't discover what is most important until you've lived there. Some things you can tell are issues - the place where you have to go outside to get to the dining room - or the place that has limited services or no covered parking stuff like that. BUT you can't really find out the important stuff until you live there. You can't know that the menus don't change enough and the food isn't that good ever until you've been there for a few months, or that the front desk never gets anything right and the wifi is always down and the pool is really closed mostly for maintenance or the gym staff is mean. NONE of those things are Timber Ridge things but they sure could be and you'd have no way of knowing until you lived here really.

Even on the days when I'm frustrated with all these fucking old people and why can't anyone manage them, I'd still have to give Timber Ridge a 95 out of 100. My friend, Christian, who designed my apartment has kind of a practice of doing the same at retirement places all around here. He sees the most of anyone at each one because he deals with the management and hears from the residents. I asked him once, out of all of them around here, now, with all he knows about me and them, which one would he pick for me. He gave it a long, good thought and then said 'really? Timber Ridge!'

I've probably glossed over stuff and/or left stuff out so if anyone has any questions, feel free. I'll answer, I promise.

Left over from yesterday:

1. The IRS was a letter telling me not to forget to declare the $400 they paid me in interest as income. Bite me.

2. The screaming shelter in place thing turned out to be a test or mistake or something. After about an hour of radio silence, we got an email that didn't really explain it or give instructions. Turns out only 2 floors got the warning. The End. Lordhelpus if there ever really is a disaster.

Also I recently heard of several people who live here and currently have working guns in their apartment. It is against the rules and when you ask specifically (which I did) you are told there are none. So old people shooting rampage. Could be a thing.

I got up this morning and had some oatmeal and internet and then went and had a wonderful swim. No one but me and my music was excellent.

I need to go out today. Safeway - oatmeal and I forgetwhatelse but I have a list. And Hobby Lobby - Martha says some of my bunnies need to be brown, not white. Plus the current crop is eating up all my white yarn at an alarming rate. And I need a frame and a small shadow box.

I have a Wyze scale. I step on it in the morning and it measures everything. My weight, my BMI, my body fat, my muscle mass, body water, bone mass, etc, fuck, it probably measures the weight over everyone I talk to in a day and their attitude. BUT, at the bottom of the list, it gives me my metabolic age. I will be 77 in March of this year but Wyze tells me my metabolic age is 74. Wyze had 3 scales, I bought the middle one. Wonder if I had gone for the top of the line, they would have shaved another year or two off. I also wonder what age I'd be if I were not 100 pounds overweight and grossly out of shape. 50? or 40?

I started reading a book last night that had the most annoying character in it. I decided to give it one night before I gave up. And then, glory be! The annoying character went missing which seems to be the plot of the book so if she says gone the whole time, then maybe? But, what if I don't want her to be found will that kill the plot for me? I think I'll give it another night.

Endurance auto shit. And Endurance life insurance. I get 3 to 4 emails of these a day - they are so clearly spam - they don't even have alpha characters in their feakin' title. I mark them as spam every time and yet, Google still thinks they are not. I keep hoping they will go away and they keep not going away.

The Mariners announced their TV deal yesterday. There will be a cable channel and it will, likely, cost a fortune. There will be a channel add on for the streaming service - also no cost announced. BUT if all you want is Mariners - $20 a month or $100 a year. Since I paid $70 a month for the stupid add on and one year it was $100 a month, I think this is a heck of deal even if I will have to watch it on mute. And it is unclear how much more I will have to pay to get other games. I haven't decided if I'm still a Phillies fan or not :) I guess it depends on the price.

I'm not going to swim today cause I don't wanna. I have other stuff I want to do. I could do both but nah.

I have a new bunny idea currently in production. I have some sewing I need to do. And then there is just regular day stuff like emptying the dishwasher and tidying up.

Biggie is being a bit weird today - actually, they both are. I did not get up until 6:30 and they were both sound asleep still. Usually they are making noise and jumping on me.

The Mariners announced the broadcast team for this season. Same asshats as last year. There is one guy who is not too painful to listen to and he's retiring after this year and going to be replaced by one of the ones who is very painful to listen to. So for sure, I have many years of crappy Mariners broadcasts ahead of me. Sigh. We also don't know yet what the broadcast streaming situation will be or rather how much it will cost. We had our own sports network and they folded and MLB.TV took over. That's either going to be ok or horrible. And no clue yet what it's going to cost. Spring training is doing a trickle start. It's not official for about 2-3 more weeks but they are gathering.

My closet/dressing room is complete. It's cozy and tidy and sooo functional. I did get a request for review from Closets by Design but I declined. I don't hate what they did but they sure could have done a less sloppy job and been less irritating about the whole thing, not to mention way cheaper. But I do love the end result and that's the real joy. I've never had anything like it. Like a whole lot of kids, I was totally into tents, and my room and cozy little spaces all my own. This is the grown up adult version of that.

My brother reminded me of the song about having too much to dream and it's been me lately. My dreams have been long and involved and more like scripted TV without the ads. This morning the alarm went off in the middle of about the 3rd act. It was not hard to get up but it was really hard to shed the groggy. I had to think hard to figure out it was not Saturday.

I ran into Hazel and John yesterday. I was trying to get on the elevator and they were coming off and they blocked me. Hazel said she wanted to come see me so I could set up the new 'flat phone that John bought me'.

NFW to the max. I told her that she needed to find another avenue for that endeavor. Call IT (they never come). Take it down to the Kid Tech Helpers (oh they talk over my head). The IT team - two very nice guys, are here to help people with their Timber Ridge provided TV and wifi. IF IF IF they have spare time, they might also help with phones and computers. The Kid Tech Helpers are volunteers who come to help with whatever technical issues you have.

I have this horrible vision of my setting up Hazel's phone and then every single time she wants to use it, she will be at my door to have me show her one more time. This is the same woman who brings me her tablet every three months. All she does is play solitaire on it but then, of course, clicks on everything because she can't really see the thing well enough and then it fills with crap and I have to clear it out again. And she wants to use a smart phone??????

John still cannot get on his computer. I think they are both mad at me because I won't help them. But neither of them makes the tiniest effort to help themselves. They also have a son who could help them. I do feel guilty but all of my energy goes to fighting that feeling. They can be mad all they want.

Oh I did fix an Apple watch today. In the middle of volleyball, Holly's watch kept trying to call 911 and she couldn't get it to stop. I figured it out (works just like my Pixel watch) so the game could continue. It was the first time I'd ever touched an Apple watch. They are a nice piece of hardware.

Another one of our regular volleyball players had to leave the game today early so she could get ready for her birthday party. She's 96 today.

My closet/dressing room continues to delight. I am now two clear boxes away from done. I needed four but I was just not sure how they would work out and they come in packs to 2 so I ordered one pack to test. Perfect so the second will be here today and the closet will be done.

There's a very small space behind the dirty clothes hamper and yesterday I threw down an old Mariners fleece blanket. It's the new favorite cat spot.

Today is house cleaner day. But also day two of bunny exploration. I'm trying out new patterns. I think I have the one I want. The first one (below) I did was ok. The second one was too big. The third one might be perfect but so far I've only done half. Martha came by last night and approves but says they need ribbons so I'm going to make up some and she'll decorate them.

As I suspected the cool temperature in the pool room did not really impact the swimming which was lovely. The window shades are still broken so on a sunny day, I need to get down there and done before the sun. Just barely made it today. It's going to be increasingly buggerish from here until Fall. BUT a flawed pool, in this case, is sure better than no pool at all.

I got caught up last night watching a documentary about George Carlin on HBO. It was particularly well done and included so many great, now old, comedians. Even Steven Wright. I still have half of it to go. It's not a short.

While the rest of the world is focused on snow, no electricity or Minneapolis, here we are all about the football. The game isn't until 3:30. There are giant football balloons everywhere and the conversation is where are you going to watch the game???? Costco and maybe Trader Joe's. I wish it was a 1 pm game. Oh well.

I have tossed out/donated/gotten rid of so much stuff lately, it's hard to keep track. It's wonderful to have the space, tho. I opened a drawer in the kitchen last night and found what I wanted. I remember that drawer being jammed to the gills with shit and now it's not at all. I have zero recollection of what used to be there.

My fingernails are crumbling. I keep them short but even so they are snagging on everything. And it's pissing me off. I may get out my tools today and spend some quality time encouraging them to behave.

And really, that's all I got for plans. In fact, this whole week is free as a bird. Volleyball and swimming and that is it really. No other nothings on the calendar. Nice.