A few Measly Steps a Day

A few former coworkers died within the last five years. So now I'm reaching out more to old friends.

My writing is going well, but everything else isn't.

I need to replace my roof, and there's some dry rot under the roof. That's life. I got a letter from my insurance co. saying that if I don't replace it by June 8th, they'll cancel my insurance. (The letter was dated Apr.8th, and I received it on the 24th. Luckily, I'd already signed a contract with a roofer by the time I got the letter. Still, we had a wet winter (what I consider normal, but still a lot of water.), So roofers are really busy. No Idea if they'll get to it before the June 8th. And the dates make me think that the insurance co. wants to get rid of me. Tomorrow, I'll call the roofer and see if it's possible. If not, I'll call the insurance co. and see if they'll postpone the deadline. Meanwhile, I'm righteously nervous/paranoid.

Good luck with the insurance company! I was late in paying a life insurance policy at the start of the Pandemic. They canceled the policy.

But "late in paying" was a bit extreme. I sent the check a few weeks after the grace period. But darn them for not allowing for electronic payments....

Insurance companies ... a pox on them! Most of them are at major risk because of the unstable climate/weather patterns. Tho many might have "mutual" in their names or origin stories, there's nothing mutual about them at all. I once worked at Prudential, and they were grooming a bright, thoughtful person like myself for Big Things there.

All I had to do was pass a measly 10 courses and earn an industry certificate (Certified Life Underwriter). During the studies for the first test I had a chronic stomach ache. As I was also studying NLP at the time, I asked it was it saying. I sensed back: don't do it! Stop. Get out of here! This is not your tribe.

So I bargained. Let me finish this 1 test, I won't take more, and I'll resign. The ache left, I passed and got reimbursed. Wrote a resignation one sunny afternoon sitting on my fire escape. Held it for 6 months while the rest of me caught up. Dropped the lefter.

Once my former boss called and wondered how I was doing. He had hoped I'd gotten some young woman with child and needed to support a family (and return to The Rock). Nada. Too shy, don't want, contraceptives work.

I was gone & I never looked back, R.

Had an interesting chat with a friend this morning about releasing goals we had set but never achieved. Do you hold out a small part of yourself hoping/waiting for a turn of events? Or say a firm goodbye and inwardly re allocate whatever was bound up in achieving these things to fresh matters. Or to just enjoy a rest.

I'm on the side of declaring the goals MIA and likely dead. Regrouping and moving forward.

So I mourned, lit a candle, sat a moment in silence.

And picked up and carried on ... R

Hi R. I appreciate the inside scoop on insurance companies. My roofing company says there should be no problem extending the deadline, and the letter says, "MAY result in cancelling my insurance." So I'm probably ok. Just a little more nervous. Meanwhile, the roofer gave me a date of June 1st, which is withing the insurance company's deadline. However, Tesla - the company that is moving my solar panels, says they'll be able to get to me sometime in June which is when they'll be in the area. My roofer says they'll do the solar panels, if they have to but they'd rather not. They're worried that they might break the panels. I'd like to honor the "rather not." I appreciate people who don't just say, "sure, no problem," when they don't really mean it.

The goal that I should put to rest? Probably writing. Maybe writing. I haven't given up on it yet, but . . .

Hi MSaD, continually under the crunch re: yuck chores around the condo. After reading Algorithms to Live By, I now accept that relationships in condos are intractable. This brings 3 puzzles:

1. Keeping motivated. Part of me screams that if this in intractable, why bother?

2. Time. As motivation drops, getting to the needed work requires more willpower. I've been aiming for 3 hrs a day (for a total of about 15) but yesterday I let everything slide and piddled about. It was my release day (the first after 5 days of hard work).

3. Turning off the incessant puzzle solver part of my mind that returns repeatedly to this place and what to do. Ans. do what I need to, be ready to respond to the rogues as legally allowed, and otherwise, walk away. Now to soothe my unbidden mind into believing that.

So, awoke this morning and doubled my hours, to 6, for today, and credited 1.5 hours for allowing my thinking to sit around in m'head and gain weight (Chekhov idea). So, 4.5 hrs, for everything related to condo.

So far, it's going OK. I'm about 3.5 hours in, and for part of the day I'll be outside scrapping moss off the fence and laying out Peanut Butter & Baking Soda to kill the rats. The baking soda suspends their breathing so that they essentially suffocate in about 24 hours. The PB is to draw them to the fatal mix. We'll see.

Also yesterday, I talked with a neighbor about sharing a haul of wood chips and dealt with some email about the condo.

Yuck stuff, and tomorrow is yet another day. R.

Hi, R.

I'm temporarily done with yuck stuff. My insurance extended the deadline for me to complete replacing my roof. Today, my favorite gardener is cutting down the branches over my roof, (required) and weed wacking my back yard. (Not required, but a treat for me. I'm getting too old for that.)

Meanwhile, I'm proofing and I'm starting a website.

Good vibes and good wishes to you. Especially with your condo challenges.

Back to the yuck. Tesla said they could move the solar panels in June. They gave me an estimate of $2400 to remove and replace the panels, and they said they could start in three months, and they'd be finished in six. I'm looking for other contractors who can do it, and can't find any.

Busy day today

Talked to the financial advisor who does my traditional IRA. He agrees that the Student Loan payments should come from the Roth IRA.

Had a follow up exam with my PCP. All the regular blood work looks good, but there's high iron saturation to investigate. Also blood pressure is creeping back up, so I'm back on that med. Plus, I complained about brain fog, so we figured that Nuvagil might be worth trying. (I've had it before -- it's pretty neat stuff.) And I'm being referred for a neuro-psyche exam. THAT should be interesting! LOL

Hmm, I'm thinking of a way of to suspend solar panels so they just float above your roof rather than sit anchored to it. It's not a practical way.... LOL

I'm gaining weight because I'm eating more. I'm eating more because, well, I just feel like it. It's probably time for another fast.

Ah, stuff just comes to us, unasked, n'est pas?

SPG, you may or may not be onto an idea. A highschooler for a science project worked out the math for how trees branch and stem and leaf to gain the maximum exposure to sunlight. Bug flurry at the time and offers of lots of money for the rights/patent but haven't noticed much in the market.

AND, sunflowers track the sun ... this could be pretty easy, an 'eye' that locates the brightest object in the sky then rotates the solar panel so it's always that center of the panel is facing the sun all day.

D, learning to grab our spaces between yucksville as we can. Keep searching.

Myself, this is the grief part, my aunt died yesterday. Age: 96. Making hurried arrangements to go to my hometown as she "wished" that my brothers and I would come to her memorial/funeral/burial. My cuz texted that it's in an "invitation" not an "obligation." Please. I got this.

This is likely my own last visit to my birth place. One last look around as time permits. Growing up funerals confused me because the person is dead, so why the bid deal? They're off the planet; don't care about earthly stuff anymore.

Oh—It's for the living, the witness to grief, the bodies which keep you standing, the gossip (did you see what he wore? Totally inappropriate ...) the witness to the display of wealth and relational networks.

A man named Steve in my long-running dinner discussion group on race, class, and politics called for his memorial while still alive. I went. Fabulous. He beamed the whole time. Off stage, women were jockeying for dates! Then we died, I really can't recall anything coming around about a second memorial. One life, one memorial. You die, it's been nice knowing you.

R

Hi all, I'm a bit sad as I won't let myself go to my aunt's funeral this Saturday. The airfare is just too darn high! Instead I'll mark a moment of silence around Noon: the start of the ceremony.

To balance my disappointment, I'm going to donate $300, $100 each for my mother, and 2 aunts who have died in the last 6 months. And I'll work for the social good for a few hours, considering my layover time was close to 5 hours for the round trip.

Will share this decision with my brother and cousin (it's for his mom) tomorrow morning. Began putting back the items in my staging box.

I'm going to keep the shirt I got as it will always remind me.

What I might have done, in retrospect, was bought my tickets right away with a travel/ticket change insurance rider for $170. This would have locked in the price and allowed me some assurance I could make changes should some last minute detail shift (say, the memorial needed to be held in a different day).

Side-sight I guess.

Oh well, R.

So sorry about your aunt's passing and especially the frustration about not being able to afford the travel expense.

The wake and funeral are held within a few days of death. But a memorial could be held much later, and, if scheduled now for next year, you'd have a good shot at getting a low airfare.

I don't recall my mother's funeral, but her memorial was a pleasant get-together, at least it was for me.

Started the Nuvigil on Tuesday, although I really needed it on Monday. All that day I looked forward to the moment I could collapse into bed, even while driving to work. Haven't noticed much effect; I'm taking 1/3 the recommended dose, though.

I plan to get the blood test tomorrow. Fridays are "work from home" (WFH) days for me, . The labs are nearby and I'll be able to get it done on a lunch break.

We got a quote to have real air conditioning installed in our home. It'll use up nearly all that's left on the HELOC. The electric service will need to be upgraded, too, and that's included.

Speaking of utilities, the telecom provider sent me a letter saying that optical fiber is available. If I switch I get a free router. If I don't I'm responsible for all repairs to my copper line. I looked online at the cost. Maybe it was a side effect of the meds, but it seemed that the 500Mbps optical service was cheaper than the 20Mbps DSL service I'm getting now. What's the catch? They're not really going to put fiber in my home, are they?

Hi SPG, I put your question to Chester, my friendly ChatGPT. This is what he wrote back after, oh, .05 seconds of thinking about it.

There could be several factors at play here. Some possible reasons why a 500Mbps optical service might be cheaper than a 20Mbps DSL service are:

Different technologies: DSL and optical services use different underlying technologies. Optical services, such as fiber-optic connections, generally offer higher speeds and more reliable performance compared to DSL.

Availability: The availability of high-speed optical services, especially fiber-optic connections, has increased in many areas. As competition grows, providers may offer more competitive pricing to attract customers.

Promotional offers: Providers often offer promotional discounts or introductory pricing to attract new customers. The cheaper price you're seeing could be a limited-time offer or part of a bundled package.

Contract terms: The pricing may depend on the contract terms and duration. Providers may offer lower prices for longer-term commitments or contracts with additional services.

Market competition: The competitive landscape and the presence of multiple service providers in your area can influence pricing. If there are multiple providers offering optical services, they may engage in price competition to gain market share.

It's essential to carefully review the details of any offer, including contract terms, potential data caps, equipment costs, and customer reviews, to ensure you understand the full scope of the service and any potential limitations or additional fees.

Yup, standard Chester answer with a disclaimer at the bottom.

Thanks D for the idea of a memorial being a better option. Not sure it might happen. We certainly don't plan one for my mom.

R.

Hi,
R, I'm sorry for your loss. You're right - memorials are for the living. And I think you've chosen a good way to honor your aunt. In my circle of people, death seems to be around an awful lot. I'm just at the age when so many friends are dying. And it makes me realize to always be grateful for friends and family and never take any of them for granted.

I can't seem to catch up on yuck stuff. I long for closure. I need to have something finished so I can think, "yes, I'm a confident and capable person. I got _____ done."
The roofer said he might be able to move the solar panels. That would be so wonderful. I just want it finished.
Mice are back. I hired a guy to get rid of the weeds that grow every year, and apparently, he disturbed their condominium. I bought a sonic mouse/rat deterrent for the garage. I hope it works.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. - We have three acres. My husband is a "live for today" sort of person. Three acres is a lot of land for an eighty year old little man to take care of. He didn't worry about the thistles, because there weren't that many. Result (drum roll) I think the thistles won. I cut back a bunch of them by the house. but I wussed out early. I was using a hedge clipper. He said it's so much easier with a mower. I asked how he handled the the branches with the seeds on them, and he said he didn't.
Anyway, I'm really tired. Of course the answer is to write a very big check for a herd of twenty-year-olds to slash and load the branches.
SPG, I was interested in what you said about memory drugs. I'm getting foggy brain, and it's making everthing take longer because I've forgotten where I've put the _________.
My medical stuff has been on hold because of insurance issues last year. I thought I'd solved them, and saw my pcp in March, and she made some referrals for me. the insurance didn't pay her bill. (My mistake - I handed them the wrong card.) Also, I put off medical stuff last year because I wanted her for my pcp, but my insurance co. dropped her, so I had to get new insurance. So, now, she says she's leaving the area. Rats! I guess this is a rant. I didn't mean it when I started writing. Anyway, I know if I got all my medical appointments squared away, I'd probably have more energy to tackle everything else.

One of my new things is to try to be grateful for all the good things. My friend, Kate, is loosing vision, and I'm realizing how I take things like that for granted.

Okay, good wishes to both of you.
D.

Yes, Chester's take on the fiber vs. DSL matter makes sense. One important factoid is that there are only two choices of Internet in this area: telecom and cable. I suppose now that voice has moved to VoIP, they've finally become direct competitors.

I've not signed up for ChatGPT because it required me to enter my mobile number to authenticate with. I do have an account on You.com and converse with YouChat occasionally. That AI will not visit my (or any) website and render an opinion on it, though.

D, I think several goats might keep the thistle at bay:
use goats to trim thistle at DuckDuckGo

Hi crew. SPG, great call on the goats. The nearest univ. had a small herd out a couple of years back. I think it was good for the variety.

D, sonic mice / rat deterrent? This got me researching my latest idea: if rats have such a great sense of smell, what smells do they HATE?

What Smell Do Rats Hate The Most & How To Use Them
Here is a list of the most common ones that rats don’t like:

Peppermint oil
Garlic
Cayenne pepper
Mint
Rosemary
Lavender
Cedar chips
Ammonia
Pine-sol
Oranges
Onion

Followed up with research on pinesol ...
Will Pine Sol Keep Rats Away

I was in TJ Maxx and they had a jar of cayenne, but I didn't get it. Might track back.

Now for the N=1 live onsite research ...

Revu2

Hot pepper is added to suet to deter squirrels. I've also added hot sauce to the feeder itself because squirrels don't like touching it. So I inferred that the hot pepper needed to come into contact with the rodent. I didn't consider that the smell might offend them.

It might be helpful to think of what stuff might be attracting the mice if said stuff can be easily removed or put into air tight containers.