Never thought retirement would be like this

Everyone is posting such beautiful, interesting, and well written stories in their diaries I'm intimidated. Day to day
things are very boring here. But I'll muddle through.

Just a quick note of the ridiculous.....

The rule in my parents household was to save *everything*. It was completely ingrained in me by the time I grew up
and left home. I still have to fight it all the time or I'd be one of those hoarders. It reached a ridiculous level one day last
week when I caught myself (just briefly) thinking about how I could save 37 seconds left on the microwave from
the last nuking. Maybe I need therapy.:eewwk:
 

NancyNGA said:
It reached a ridiculous level one day last week when I caught myself (just briefly) thinking about how I could save 37 seconds left on the microwave from the last nuking. Maybe I need therapy.:eewwk:
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....buttons...the world's greatest invention. My hero has always been the two guys who developed the TV remote, along with the mute button. In your case you have the reset button. ...course I really like the easy button. You are correct, there is a fine line between collecting and hoarding. Most people save everything but money! HAHA!

A good rule of thumb is "Never be intimidated"! Write for your own pleasure and if the pleasure of others comes with it, all the better. No one can tell Nancy's stories like you can! Keep at it!:)
 
NancyNGA said:
SeaBreeze:

The cataract surgery itself was a piece of cake. I had heard horror stories about the new accommodating and multifocal lenses, so I opted for monofocal with near vision instead of distance vision. Assistant said 1 in 50 choose that option. I'm near-sighted and was used to seeing well up close. I also like wearing glasses---my face looks so plain without them. I just couldn't imagine trying to put on and take off reading glasses to do something overhead, like paint a ceiling. And it's not a perfect science. They don't always get the distance vision crisp enough, and your eyes can change over the years afterward, so you may still end up having to wear glasses.

What does your mother-in-law say is wrong with her vision after surgery? Did she never get the other eye done?
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I paid $5000 extra (for both eyes) for the multi-focal cataract lenses and it was the worst mistake I've ever made. My distance vision is very, very good but I do have to wear reading glasses in low light (OK with strong light or natural light). The worst part is the glare/halos.......ever so much worse than it was before. I'll admit, I didn't do enough due diligence on them before I opted for them and went instead on the doctor's recommendation. I've pretty much given up night driving unless I really know where I'm going. I'd never recommend them for anyone!
 

Jujube, How long ago was your surgery?

I'm glad you at least have really great distance vision and good near vision. Some folks don't get either one even with the monofocal lenses. Haloes and glare are what I had *before* surgery. I can really sympathize because driving at night on country roads was impossible. It *might* have something to do with how much your pupils dilate at night. I think they make some drops that prevent them from dilating so much. People only use them when they know they will be driving at night. You might try asking your eye doctor for his opinion. Some people keep the lights on inside the car and it helps. Maybe that would help you.

After the surgery the glare and haloes went away, and what I got in return were starbursts from headlights and more floaters. I suspect they were both there before, but the cataracts hid them from sight. From what I can gather, starbursts have to do with defects in the surface of the cornea. In a few cases it can be corrected, but with even more surgery. I don't think I want anymore cutting done, because the more cutting of nerves, the more tendency to cause dry eye. Still not easy to drive at night, though.

I know I can live with floaters, cause I've had lots of them since I was a kid.:)
 
I had the surgery 1 1/2 years ago. I had the haloes before, but now it's even worse, plus the starbursts that I didn't have before. I also got a great big floater that looks like a greasy thumbprint that drifts across my vision. The surgeon says it wasn't anything that he did, but......I didn't have it until after my surgery. Hmmmm? I'm with you, I don't want anybody touching my eyes again.
 
jujube said:
.... I also got a great big floater that looks like a greasy thumbprint that drifts across my vision. The surgeon says it wasn't anything that he did, but..... .
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Yes, the greasy thumbprint floater. I got one of those too.:) My optometrist says it is likely due to posterior vitreous detachment. Some membrane separates from the back of your eye and pieces of it float around. It happens to almost everyone eventually but not everyone has symptoms. In my case it also causes flashes of white light in an arc on the peripheral vision at night. That happened about a year *before* surgery. I could see the light flashes before surgery, but he thinks I could not see the floater because of the cataract.
 
Some time ago I realized that I really enjoy figuring out ways to do projects by myself---no help at all. Kinda like being in the frontier days,
but adding modern tools and simple machines, and subtracting personpower. Of course I only choose projects that don't really matter
if I mess up---so far.

It all started when my mom and I built the goat shed in 2004, just the two of us. I still remember pounding in the very first nail and saying
to myself, "If I can't get this nail in straight, I'm in BIG trouble." It went in straight.:) This is a picture of my second mistake on that project,
but easily correctable because I had switched from nails to screws by that time. Did I say how much I love screws?


　
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All this is to set up my next possible project. I'm stuck on one aspect, so it's still iffy whether I can do it by myself.
I should also add that I don't mind getting dirty. The goats have cured me of worrying about that.
 
Cool that you don't mind gettin' dirty Nancy, neither do I. And yes, screws are much better than nails in a lot of situations.
 
I'm in withdrawal from NYPD Blue reruns tonight---it is being pre-empted for boxing.:p Thought I would hate it when David Caruso left that show, but Jimmy Smits is even better.:love_heart: Caruso is a joke on CSI:Miami. Maybe bad directors/writers? But I digress...

I kid you not (Johnny Carson?), this is my next project....

The cabin on our property has electricity but no running water. My dad built an outhouse in parts in Florida and put the pieces together when they first arrived. It was meant to be only temporary. We had planned to get water, but figured the headaches with freezing pipes issues in the winter would not be worth it. That was 30 years ago. The outhouse hasn't been used in the last 10-15 years. I checked it out carefully today.

outhouse1_zpsfa9554a2.gif



The floor (OSB board) is shot. The "hole" underneath has completely filled in with dirt, supporting concrete blocks have tipped over and made the structure tilt backward. The rain now hits the front and is rotting out the bottom of the door. Squirrels and birds have been inside and are trying to build nests.

My new project is to restore it to "usefulness."

The frame is still strong and intact. I can fix the floor and the door. I can put steel roofing/siding and screening over the outside so the squirrels cannot get in, and I can level it up. Today I may have solved the last piece of the puzzle---the filled in hole. The whole thing has to be moved before that can be fixed. I think it would be fairly easy to take it apart down to the original pieces. Getting it back together will be the hard part, but I think I can do it.

Believe it or not there is a video on Youtube on How to Move an Outhouse, but it requires 4 men and level ground. I don't even know 4 men, let alone have level ground. [Is there anything you can't find on Youtube?]

Don't know when I'll get started. Can only work on it at most 2 or 3 days a week when it's not raining. The weather is turning cold, so this may not be finished until April. Will update.
 
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When the weather is warm I try to walk a couple of miles every evening after it cools off. There is a tiny (2 trash can only) park almost exactly 1 mile from my house and a Kangaroo convenience store right across the street. I get the largest Diet Coke they have, go sit in the park, work on my To-Do lists ;), then walk home.

One night early this fall in the park a baby 'possum crosses the sidewalk, climbs up a bush and into the trash can close to my shoulder. Immediately went home and Googled 'possums. Next night I take half a cooked chicken neck to leave for him. This went on for a few days. Next day he was sitting on top of the trash can, like he was waiting for me. I could have fed him from my hand, but I read they have 50 sharp teeth. I was worried he might have become too friendly with humans. Next night was a home football game and the trash cans would be full, so I backed off for the weekend. He must have got too big for the park and moved on. It was fun while it lasted.

As you can probably tell if you read this diary, wild animals really fascinate me. Here is a picture I found on the net that shows one about the same size. It's such a cute picture, mainly because the angle doesn't show the long pointy nose.

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My first thought about how to move an outhouse, was WHEELS.... just put wheels on it. Well that led to finding this video: "A jet powered outhouse on wheels...." Then I figured it might be over-kill!


I wouldn't get too attached to those "critters in the park", as they just might follow you home....and be in your garbage can.:) Sounds like a nice little Toucan Park:)
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I just recalled that Pogo was possum! Walt Kelly, the cartoonist who drew Pogo, referred to the animals in the swamp as "nature's screechers".
perplexed_possum.jpg
 
Meanderer said:
My first thought about how to move an outhouse, was WHEELS....just put wheels on it. ...." Then I figured it might be over-kill!
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Meanderer, you always make me laugh.

The setup in your video is too fast. I don't work that fast. I'd feel pressured to work faster. Then it wouldn't be fun.

Seriously, wheels is a great idea. I have ropes, chains, a come-along, and a small tractor. If it tips over while I'm pulling it that would solve the problem of taking it apart in pieces. I could also build one from scratch and use the pieces as patterns. I don't like measuring. Prefer to measure once and cut twice. I'd have to find some wheels. Hmmm.... Thanks for the idea.
 
jujube said:
We had an attic full of possums when we first moved to Florida. They sounded like they were wearing Army boots and were extremely hard to get rid of. The babies sure are cute, though.
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Oh dear! Well, at least they probably didn't chew electrical wiring like squirrels do. Babies of everything are cute, aren't they.
 
Rain all day Sunday. DSL broadband connection went out and is still out (Tuesday). Don't you love it when you're troubleshooting no internet connections and they say: go to website xyz.com to further troubleshoot the problem.

This happened several times before with dial-up. One repairman said it was probably squirrels chewing the lines, LOL. But service usually always came back as soon as the lines dried out. This time not, and more rain predicted tomorrow.

One time the broadband connection would go out intermittently, and by accident I noticed it coincided with a streetlight going off and on about 300 feet away from the house. AT&T said they never heard of that before. Made sense to me. Georgia Power fixed the light and the problem resolved.

Don't know if I have the energy to track this one down. Wrote this on pc, then transferred the file to smartphone, and cut and paste. Just to see if it could be done.

Update: AT&T telephone rep said it was a bad router/modem. Found one in stock at AT&T store here in town. Much easier to set up than the first one. Wireless printer was a bit of a problem. Woke up at 3am with an idea and it worked. I still may have a hitch in the setup but it prints and connects to the net, so I'm leaving it alone for now.
 
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An easy Thanksgiving dinner...

I only cooked a whole Thanksgiving dinner once in my life. I was 26 and it was at a friend's apartment because I lived in an efficiency (think garage). The turkey turned out too dry, mainly because the oven thermostat was messed up. That's my excuse anyway. So I'm doing it again this year, 40+ years later. But this time it's going to be easy, and technically leftovers, because I want to cook it at home ahead of time at my own speed, with no one looking over my shoulder. Everything will then be transported to my mother's house and reheated in the microwave. I can leave her with a clean kitchen. It will just be the two of us.

I'm trying one of those 3lb Butterball boneless turkey roasts with white and dark meat. It even includes a packet of gravy. Adding sausage and onions to stove top stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, spicy green beans, a Marie Callander cherry pie (They were on sale and didn't have pumpkin). And of course the little tin canned shaped cranberry sauce discs.;)

This is so different from the way my grandmother did it. She would start cooking a whole turkey probably before daylight. My mom and aunts would join in later, and everything got done all at the same time. The kitchen was a mad house. Everything was made from scratch, even the cranberry sauce. The whole house smelled of food. Then they spent all evening cleaning up. The cousins usually had a separate overflow table when we were young. There were only 5 cousins and nearly all the same age, except one girl. She had to eat at the grown-ups table.:(

Anyway, it's all done. I just *had* to sample the turkey because of the disaster before and it turned out real good. Sure hope it reheats well.
 
That dinner sounds great, Nancy, I've had a few disasters in the kitchen though out the years also.

Your description of the family dinners sounds familiar, I'm just glad it is only once a year at my house.
 
We shared Thanksgiving with son and daughter. Wife baked a hen and four pies and a dozen and a half rolls and had dressing, giblet gravy and cranberry sauce and green beans cooked with a couple strips of bacon. Shot my diet.

We had eight goats in our stock yard which was about about an acre and a half, fenced in good, lock on double high gate. Playful creatures. Don't know how the dogs got in. One neighbor said he saw some, what looked like German shepards, along with a pit bull, could have been mixed breeds, he said. Killed all the goats. Two nights later, someone broke in and stole all our Sheetrock and paneling. Decided no more goats.
 
Drifter, that is so sad about your goats. Dogs have always been our greatest worry---more than coyotes. A pack of coyotes will generally isolate and kill one goat to eat. Dogs generally just run them to death or tear up their back legs. Then the goats get stressed and don't recover even if the damage would not be fatal otherwise.

We've also had a lot of trouble with vandalism. One time someone broke out the door frame of the cabin to get in, took everything inside including busting out a built-in wall AC unit. Caused a lot of damage. I used to spend a weekend out at the cabin once in a while in the summers before all that happened, but never felt comfortable afterward at night. It seems to have stopped since my parents moved in. Their mobile home is on the main road and we've had no trouble at all there. The cabin is isolated about 2000 feet away through the woods. The fencing has also helped because you can't drive in from the back side now. At least not without a lot of trouble.

I've rambled on too much, but your post triggered something I've been avoiding thinking about. I will have to make a decision one day about whether I can keep that property out there. It's a beautiful place and I would surely miss it, but I like my house in town, too, and can't take care of both. I suppose I could get some security service to monitor the place out there. I don't know how good those services are. Not looking forward to the decision at all.
 
Drifter, I'm so sorry to hear about your goats, such a shame. :( I guess wild dogs are a big problem where you and Nancy live, that's scary. Nancy, I feel for you, the cabin does sound like a nice place to visit, I guess no place can be left unattended without vandalism. That would be a tough decision for sure.
 

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