Pardon the interruption in this blog’s usual chatter for an emergency that got the hunky EMS guys to carry me away…
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Category Archives: Home Life
The Trials and Tribulations of Senior Pals
I keep rather busy with a voluntary job that kinda grew on me… looking after a fairly large contingent of people I call my “senior pals.” All of these folks live nearby, and my cadre of those who I check on, help out, and look after has grown by word-of-mouth. First it was my mother’s next-door neighbor, then her friend, then her friend’s friend, and so on. I sorta help out by being a “rent-a-son” where the rent is cheap (zero) and the smiles are plentiful.
However, having such a large group of friends who are significantly older poses its challenges.
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Tarnished Tiara
I was joking around with a buddy who writes to me regularly that my tiara is tarnished.
That was in response to something he said, “I didn’t think guys who wore tiaras did that kind of manly stuff…,” which I accepted as a joke, as he intended. We were referencing the work that I have been doing to renovate the kitchen in my home.
Yeah, it is real, manly, hard work.
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How To Lose Weight Without Really Trying
Like most middle-aged men, I find myself on the ongoing challenge with weight. Yeah, yeah, I know — diet, exercise, blah blah blah. Since I lost 41 pounds two years ago, I am well aware of what works and what’s recommended to lose weight. I had “only” regained five of those pounds by last December (even through Christmas!) Not bad. However, I still could loose those five extra pounds and lose more. And I did!
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Really Busy
Sorry, I don’t have much to blog about, nor time to do it.
My partner’s illness has been exhibiting symptoms … sigh. Calming him, reassuring him, taking him to doctors, the pharmacy, and other places for tests takes a lot of time. He had a scare that the treatment he is currently getting caused a blood clot in his leg. We had to get him a sonogram of his leg to determine what was happening. Turned out to be transient, and not a clot. Whew….
They say this disease has a “voice.”
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Life Marches On…
So here I am with my first “real” post on the blog… trying to think of what to blog about remains a question. Of course, I always remain open to your input but for now, here goes….
Last weekend, I drove my partner’s cage (what bikers call a car) to Pittsburgh. My partner cannot drive, still, due to his ongoing health issues. But it was nice to have his company, and keeping me awake as we made the five-hour trip.
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Not Leather Lately
Spring has arrived, and soon it will be summer. Hot, humid, summer.
I like four seasons, especially the warmer time of the year when I can ride my Harley.
Lately, I haven’t been riding much. Time devoted to my partner and his ongoing treatments takes up a huge amount of my time. But I continue to have faith; he will be well again. Sometime….
I hear the Harleys roaring down the road, while transporting my partner in my truck to-and-fro, from visiting doctors to ordinary and mundane chores like grocery shopping. The good thing is that he is well enough to conduct some semblance of a normal routine.
Meanwhile, I remain in my work boots. That tile in the kitchen won’t lay itself. Over my aching, sore body….
No leather, no Harley, but lots of smiles in seeing accomplishment on the tiling. I want my kitchen back!
Life is short: keep working toward your goals.
Not That Kind of Idiot
No, I’m not that kind of idiot. Really. Who would think an email is legitimate that asks me to adopt an orphan, supposedly from California but the email originated in Malaysia?
What email is legitimate that offers me millions of dollars for serving as a fiduciary conduit in the United States?
Who really believes that I would ever click on a link within an email from an airline confirming tickets I never purchased, or to cancel a huge pizza order I never made?
When hovering over these links and tracing back IP addresses from email senders, these nefarious no-good creeps originate in China, Latvia, Malaysia, and elsewhere.
Really, I am not that kind of idiot. All this junk goes to a spam folder, and gets deleted. This is silly. But I really worry about the few people that these messages trick into clicking on embedded links (which then introduce trojans to insert keylogging programs and steal sensitive information), or who fall for offers of millions of dollars from someone who is trying to steal, literally, from someone’s bank account or steal their identity.
I truly wish that people did not engage in these awful behaviors. It causes me to loose all faith in humanity and trust no one.
Anyway, if you’re one of those idiots who sets those emails in motion, I wish you a bevy of ugly, festering, green warts on your toosh.
Life is short: get a life.
Work-Booted Work
This blog post is short because I have been very busy. These Timberland work boots are on my feet while I am laying Italian tile in our kitchen. All 460 square feet of it…
What you see in these photos is what the subfloor looks like after original old linoleum was removed from it. I am laying rectangular tile that has the appearance of wood on the floor, cutting it with a wetsaw as necessary to fit angles and edges.
Man, I’m sore…
But it is looking good!
Life is short: take pride in doing your own work!
Odd Easter Weekend
For the past decade, my partner left on Good Friday to drive to Pittsburgh to visit his mother for Easter, returning on the next Monday. I would have a free “batchelor’s weekend” where I would ride my Harley on Saturday and take some elderly friends to church for sunrise service on Sunday, then having some more free time before returning to work on Monday.
Not this year….
Our Easter weekend is turned a bit upside down this year. Unfortunately, my partner cannot drive due to his illness. So he can’t drive by himself to the store down the street much less Pittsburgh. My partner is staying home this Easter.
I need to be available to support him by giving him a daily medical treatment that takes about an hour in the middle of the day. That precludes taking time to join my motorcycle club for a ride.
Instead, “let the kitchen flooring process begin….” Yep, as you read this, I am tearing up our old kitchen floor (under partner’s watchful eye) and ensuring the underlayment remains solid. I hope I can get that done in one day.
Then if I am still able to walk on Sunday, I plan to take some of my senior pals and my partner to church, but at a more traditional time than at oh-dark-thirty for a sunrise service. Yeah, I’ll wear a jacket, shirt, tie, and dress …
…cowboy boots. Shoes? Ya gotta be kiddin!
After that, return home, change into grubbies and my work boots, and continue doing the prep work on the kitchen floor and paint the baseboards and trim. I will lay new tile on the floor later this coming week.
Visits with the family won’t happen this Easter. I am sorry about that, but needing to be available to give my partner his daily treatment with some privacy, dignity, and on schedule is important.
Life is short: adjust as needed.
Happy Easter!