Pick Your Poison

And so I did this past weekend when, returning to the complex from Sprouts, needing gas, I stopped at a station just off the freeway, near to a new shopping center.

As the pump was going, I glanced around, checking out all the new stores and spotted a sign indicating “Sees” ─ the candy store.

Of course, if I didn’t want to be sick with nausea and stomach pains for three days, the best course after pumping gas would have been to get in the car, head back to the freeway and go home.

Instead, deciding I could handle three days of discomfort, I crossed over to Sees.

I had no idea it was Milk Chocolate Day, but perhaps that fact subliminally drew me to the place.

Not wanting to die, I stayed clear of anything with peanuts (because of the lectin), and settled for less harmful almond buds, pecan buds and chocolate milk patties.

In celebration of Milk Chocolate Day, Sees was giving out a bag of samples with each order, which I dropped the samples off in the Community Room.

I’d planned to put the bag on the counter for whomever came in but, seeing Older Sister, I asked if she could eat candy (some of our residents are diabetic and can’t). She said yes, so I gave her the bag of samples.

Seeing Sees on the bag, Older Sister looked like she’d just struck gold.

Not sharing with the other two ladies seated with her, she quickly looked in the bag, made a mmmm sound, popped one in her mouth, closed the bag and secured it by pulling it close to her breast as though in fear one of the other ladies would take from her.

LOL.

Did I get sick later?

A little.

Okay, a little more than a little, but with Milk of Magnesia and a Probiotic, it's been manageable and should be completely out of my system by Wednesday.

Was the poison worth the pain?

Heck yeah it was.

Will I choose that poison again?

Probably, but not any time soon.

Slowly I Burn

Outside of family drama, which I am determined not to accept, absorb, acknowledge ... except to announce granddaughter has a new car … preowned … purchased for her by the boyfriend … $7,000 … cash!

Must be love.

Other than that, it’s been a quiet week for me what with working out, trying new recipes, needlepoint, and finally having time to catch up with books I’ve missed by my favorite author.

I thought this one would give me some good late night reading over a period of days.

However, it was so engrossing that I couldn’t put it down. Practically finished it overnight, and now must order the other Mosley book I missed while I was busy reading all those revealing books about No. 45 and his family.

The needlepoint project for Twin 2 is coming along, not taking up much time, and will be finished well ahead of time to present it as a Christmas gift.

Looking for snack recipes that travel well, I tried a recipe for avocado brownies.

It was an expensive epic failure.

·       Hazelnut Flour $13.99

·       Hazelnut Butter $11.83

·       Organic Cacao Nibs $7.99

·       Organic Cacao Powder $10.99

·       100% Organic Dark Chocolate Cacao Chips $13.44      

Mix it all together, along with Stevia, 1-1/2 Avocados, vanilla extract and you’ve wasted a perfectly good avocado that would have been better utilized as guacamole.

The results were a non-sweet dried up mess.

Tasted nothing like a brownie.

I seriously doubt I’ll be using those expensive ingredients in any other recipe, but I’ll hang onto just in case.

A recipe for Avocado Egg Salad with Homemade Flax Seed Crackers was executed successfully and is what I’ll take with me on an overnight, scheduled for next week, to participate in the OC Fair 5K.

Would you believe I’ve never ever been to the fair?

Not sure if this visit will count, as I’m just up Saturday evening, out by 11:00 after Sunday’s event, which won’t give me much time to be a lookie loo at the fair.

Today was an appointment with my primary care physician to discuss the possibility of a tummy tuck for sure, possibility of a boob lift.

Since my request is cosmetic, not medical, she doubts it, but sent in a referral to the Plastic Surgery department nonetheless.

Back in 2017, when I was forced by gut issues to begin a clean eating regiment, I quickly lost 20-1/2 pounds in three months, which was amazing and unusual because weight loss had eluded me for years.

Weighing in today, the doctor remarked on how great it was that my weight continues to come down since that initial 20-1/2 pounds to the tune of an additional loss of 12 pounds in the last two years.

Is she serious thinking that to be great?

All the exercise I’ve done in the last two years, all the clean eating, and a lousy 12 pounds!

Slowly my metabolism burns, and it’s left me with a sloppy roll around the middle I’d like to get rid of. Thus, this morning’s consultation.

We’ll see how it goes once I get an appointment with the plastic surgery department.

If you’ve had skin removal surgery or a boob lift, would love to hear from you as to just how bad is the pain and how long the recovery period.

Heading to the doctor’s office, I saw an interesting sign.

I wasn’t texting, I was playing PokémonGo so their little sign clearly wasn't meant for me. LOL.

Having seen another sign, I stopped by after the visit.

Didn’t buy anything. It was so hot outside that I couldn't focus on the fruit and veggies being offered.

Where’s My Medal?

Set the alarm for 5:00 this morning, so I could get bathed, dressed, face made up, fed and out the door for the 7:00 meetup of that run/walk group.

Five o’clock came, but I lay there trying to convince myself to blow walking off and go back to sleep because I was tired from Friday’s luau, but something wouldn’t let me. I managed to get up at 5:30, check in at 7:03.

I've since learned the group runs are every other Saturday, but a handful show up most Saturdays.

And so it was this morning, with just a few of those I met last week showing up for a run.

“You all look fast, so I’ll just head out on my own”, said I.

“I’m not a runner. I’m a walker”, said a voice coming from a woman not there last week.

So off she and I went, with me saying I wanted to train by walking up to the top of that steep hill that I found so difficult last week.

Once again, I made it to the top.

And, once again, it was a struggle, leaving me out of breath.

“Does this breathing thing get better?”, asked I.

“I don’t have it with me now, but I usually bring an inhaler”, said she.

I don’t think I need that. I’m hoping that, if I continue to challenge myself on that incline, my body will adjust, lung capacity will open up.

That is if the knees hold up because right now they’re killing me, and not just because of the incline, but because the route my walking partner took me on from there was not just down the hill, through the college, but completely around the college for a total of 3.55 miles, at such a fast clip that I was back at the car in 1 hour 13 minutes 49 seconds.

I only work that hard when I’m in competition and there’s a medal waiting for me at the end.

However, if I do say so myself, that time is impressive considering, before working out with Trainer, it was taking me 1 hour 20 minutes to finish the 3.1 miles of a 5K and here I was doing almost 4 miles in 1 hour 13 minutes 49 seconds.

I earned a medal today, so where is it? LOL.

The jury is STILL out on this walking group. I enjoyed walking with this woman but I am a loner at heart and pushing myself as fast as I did this morning is just not something I want to do every week.

Maybe once in a while I'll go to the meetup.

The luau was a major success.

Residents showed up, filling the Community Room to overflowing. Management had to set up extra tables and still it was so crowded that one had to guard one’s spot.

Assistant Community Manager would lei residents as they walked through the door, but so many showed up that a little over an hour in, they’d run out of leis.

To latecomers who approached me, asked where I'd gotten my lei, and complained about not getting one, I said, "You should have showed up on time".

The Seer and Shadow made an appearance … as a couple. So I guess they've come to a compromise, insofar as whatever they were mad at each other over, and it's on again. Which is probably why, Not Dead Nancy is staying in her lane, no longer pushing her walker towards Shadow's area of the complex. And, p.s., I've got to think of a better pseudonym for her.

The Seer's aura wasn't as dark as it had been pre-breakup, so maybe time away from him freed her from being such a witch. Regardless, the "fool me once" philosophy is still in play with me.

The food looked to be sandwiches, slaw, cookies. Residents were not asked to bring anything, but Church Lady made a banana pudding. THAT was the only thing to temp me from eating clean but, not wanting to make myself sick, I headed over to the fruit table.

Maybe it’s just my dirty mind, but the melon and strawberry combo, looked suspiciously like a female body part.

Plucking strawberry's out of it felt weird.

There was a photo booth set up, where management took photos of residents.

Don’t know what management plans to do with their photos, but I myself ended up with over 100 photos on my cellphone, to weed through for posting to the residents’ facebook page, plus about 10 videos of residents and staff singing/dancing.

And yes, I was the only one in a grass skirt and no, I didn’t mind and danced the twist, the floss and did a little hula like no one was watching.

Someone was though.

The Baker taped one such.

It’s Not Looking Good

It’s not looking good for my neighbor across the quad ─ down stairs, corner unit, affectionally referred to in the blog as Nosey.

If you will recall, she fell in her unit, broke her hip back in April, was hospitalized, then went into rehab.

Since returning, she’s just not the same.

No longer looking the jolly little plump lady, she’s now alarmingly thin, frail. The one time I observed the home care aid assisting her to a seat on the patio, she didn't seem to hear well or understand well or reasonably respond when I greeted her.

More recently, heading out for Thursday’s workout, I saw her once cheerily decorated patio is now a dead zone ─ completely bare.

Seeing the home care aid sweeping the area, I asked “Where’s her plants?”

“She gave them all away because she can’t care for them any longer”.

When Nosey was in rehab, us neighbors reached over the railings and watered her patio plants. Any one of us would be happy to continue to care for the plants if she wanted. She knows that. Plus, the home care aid is doing housework, so she too is available to care for plants.

So, I’m thinking Nosey is giving away stuff, not because she can no longer care for them, but because she’s giving up.

Nothing I see coming down the road for Nosey is looking good to me.

Elsewhere on the complex, landscapers have been hard at work trimming trees.

Trust Greedy Grabby ─ always looking for free stuff, to go shopping for olives in the downed branches of the olive trees.

LOL.

From what I could tell, she ended up with a nice haul.

This afternoon is the luau. Will be interesting to see if The Seer and Shadow make an appearance ─ either separately or together.

Hopefully I can find someone to take a pic of me in my grass skirt. I say hopefully because the seniors do not take good photos. They cut off the head, or cut off the feet, or shake in a way that makes the photos come out blurry.

I’m off for a desperately needed manicure and pedicure, since I’ll be wearing sandals, but I’ll leave you with something to think about.

Did Someone Say Luau

Detouring through the Community Room after Monday’s workout, I saw as poster indicating management is giving us a Luau this Friday.

I’m in.

After Tuesday’s workout I drove to Party City and picked up a grass skirt.

Tried it on.

Didn’t like it.

It was cheaply made, with just a short little ribbon tie at the waist.

The ribbon tie wouldn’t hold ─ kept slipping and the way the raffia bunched at the waist made me look fat, so I took the pre-made grass skirt apart, tossed the ribbon tie and pimped it with an elastic ribbon waist.

Black instead of green because it blends better with the black top I plan to wear, giving me a much better looking waist than bright green would have.

I'm hoping not to be the only resident with a lei and grass skirt, but we have so many who are uptight that I probably will be … even though one resident bragged about owning an authentic grass skirt.

Better brush up on the hukilau.

While in the Community Room, I learned the new Community Manager’s lunch had been stolen from the refrigerator.

Guess no one told him about someone breaking into the locked kitchen cabinet, stealing coffee, paper plates, paper towels, kitchen gadgets. Taking the ice cream, bottled water, and trays of food placed in the refrigerator in advance of an event from the refrigerator.

What with all the potlucks, free pizzas, chicken nuggets, bread deliveries and other free food coming through here, no one needs to do that.

Management needs to put the camera in the kitchen to better use and nab the culprits.

With Community Manager’s lunch being the last to be pilfered, maybe now they will.

Jury is Out

Now that I’ve got my days straight, I had no problem meeting up 7:00 Saturday morning with the walking group I was invited to join by Trainer’s client, but the jury is still out as to whether I’ll participate much with this group.

It’s way different than the run/walk group I was with for five years, that is until the group ended when the organizer had a job transfer.

That was more like a community group of runners, walkers, kids, beginners.

However many as had been looking for a 5K, and seen a posting on the site "Active", signed-up to participate in a fun run/walk. Generally 50 to 100 would show up, we'd all start off together along a set route. The runners would, of course, finish way ahead of us walkers, but there were activities at the start/finish line to occupy them until everyone had crossed the finish line, after which there was a medal ceremony and group photo.

2014 Crazy Tutu/Ugly Necktie 5K

There are only about a dozen or so in this new group and though it’s touted as “runners, walkers, kids, beginners”, it appeared those I met on Saturday were serious marathon runners, hikers, all of whom dispersed into different directions, did their own thing based on whether they wanted to go climbing, hiking, running.

So, it was me showing up, being introduced to folks ─ some seniors who are so accomplished at running that I’m told they usually medal in first-place in competitions, and then swoosh ... everyone scattered and disappeared.

That’s everyone except Trainer’s client and another lady, both of whom I’m sure would rather have gone hiking, but didn’t want to leave me, the newcomer, all alone.

The walk was okay, a route I’ll probably add to my places to go, but just the three of us walking along wasn’t worth joining a group for. I can do that kind of walk on my own and walking on my own is exactly what I did when they led me to a challenging steep incline.

It's steeper than it looks

We’d just passed the college, an area I’m comfortable being alone in, so I said I was done and planned to head back.

The two wanted to turn back to make sure I got safely to my car, but I insisted they continue, that I could take care of myself in that area and so it was they continued challenging themselves, while I turned back, detoured through the college, defeated a PokémonGo Gym, hatched two eggs, logged in 2.22 miles by the time I got back to the car, drove home and shampooed the carpet.

Will I go back next Saturday?

I don’t know.

The jury is still out.

It just didn’t feel like a group ─ didn’t feel worth getting up early on a Saturday for.

One good thing that came out of it was I received information on a couple of upcoming 5Ks I’d heard nothing about ─ one of which is taking place at the college.

I registered for all of them ─ one in August, two in September.

Plus, I’ve got the Stampede 5K in August and the Batman 5K in September.

Speaking of Batman ... look at the cool leggings I managed to snag.

The glasses, I already had. Leftover from when I did a 5K as Batgirl.

So, the jury is still out on the walking group, but only because I don’t want to be rude and just not show up ever again, because the people I met were nice, friendly.

Maybe I’ll give it one more shot and, if I still feel the same, give myself permission to be rude and not show up again.

RIP 2004 Saturn Vue

So, granddaughter’s car is totaled.

Inasmuch as there was no front-end damage, repairs looked expensive but doable to me.

But noooo.

Instead, I get a text message “It's hard to tell from the picture but the entire back door needs replacement because it’s crushed in, it doesn't open but there's large gaps and when driving it's very loud and large amounts of wind come in. Also, the back bumper and the area that's meant to house the rear light is all crushed in. Because the vehicle is older, even with the lower mileage, insurance says damages sound like they're more than the vehicle is worth which totals it out.”

And, as I’d surmised, the hit/run driver had no insurance.

I’m pretty sure that driving without insurance AND hit/run is a crime, but I seriously doubt hit/run driver will suffer much in the way of consequences ─ he won’t be arrested, his car won’t be impounded, so we’ll have to be satisfied with the humiliation he must have felt at thinking he’d gotten clean away only to be tracked down through his license plate.

Maybe he’ll do the right thing next time.

Everything happens for a reason so, though I’m sad the life of the Saturn that served me so well is over less than a year out of my custody, I can accept it and be grateful granddaughter was not injured.

If and when it’s time to get rid of the Jeep for whatever reason, I won’t be deeding it to granddaughter or any other relative. I’ll be looking at what financially benefits me and more than likely trading it in.

Elsewhere in my world, shortly after I ignored a call from a number I did not recognize, I got like the strangest email from a company I’d recently ordered from. So seemingly inappropriate, that I thought it might be a catfishing situation (the process of luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona), but no. Turns out it’s legit from a company representative.

“This is Melanie with ______.com, it looks like I just missed you! I couldn’t reach your voicemail, so I also wanted to shoot you an email in case this works better for you. I'm a gearhead here at ___________ and I would be psyched to get to know you more! I'm an avid climber, skier and love to camp too – what gets you outside? I’d love to hear how the Sun Mask works out once you get a chance to use it. Do you have any trips lined up this summer? Hope to talk to you soon!”

What the heck?

Am I over reacting that this sounds like something you’d see on a dating site?

Suffice it to say, I’ve marked further correspondence from ________.com as spam.

Further elsewhere in my world, I finally ran into my buddy Apache and asked if, during his late PM/early AM walks, he’s seen which residents are doing laundry.

He said, “Yes, it’s me”.

“No, I mean in my building”.

“Yes, that was me and Diane last week”

As to why they were doing laundry in my building, he had no explanation, but was upset because someone reported him and management had given him a talking to.

“What about all the other people”, he said he’d asked management.

He’s right about that, because I tracked one whole week of hearing rulebreakers doing laundry at 11:00 pm, being awakened at 2:30 am the next morning, 11:30 that night, 3:00 am the next morning, 10 pm the next night, 4:45 am the next morning.

In speaking with the new Community Manager about it, I’d asked if he couldn’t set the laundry room doors to automatically lock at 10 pm. He actually said it’s being looked at.

The new Community Manager is a hoot. He’s short, plump, rosy cheeked, exudes likeability, comes across as very sweet and giggles like a girl. But, I’m not holding my breath as to if and when automatic locks will be done. In the grand scheme, the noise is a minor inconvenience.

As for the woman downstairs, underneath my unit, she was losing her mind with complaints to the office about me waking her up at 3:30 am, when she thought the noise was coming from me. Now all of a sudden she says she no longer hears it.

What’s that about?

Returning to my unit yesterday from the mailbox, I spied her outside her unit.

That in itself is unusual, because something is not right about her. She says she doesn’t like people, won’t talk to any of us, stays hidden inside her unit with the windows and blinds shut tight and the maintenance guys tell me she freaks out and requests they come seal any perceived little hole or crack anywhere because, using her words, “Bugs will get in and eat me”.

Yet here she was, outside her unit, sitting on the bench outside, in conversation with that Big Friendly Guy (BFG) I’d mention was using a cane.

He’s no longer using the cane, by the way.

Because the woman had chased me away when I’d attempted to introduce myself shortly after she moved in, I hesitated in speaking but, since she was with BFG, I ventured “Hey folks” and, addressing her directly, asked if the noise was still bothering her.

No hard mean look this time, just an “I don’t hear it”.

It’s impossible she doesn’t since her bedroom is right next to the Laundry Room.

I can only assume that inasmuch as she has no problem sitting chatting with BFG and she does have an occasional male visitor, the people she doesn’t like are limited to the female gender. Thus, the losing her mind when she thought the noise was coming from a female way older than she, but a target for being way prettier.

Whatever.

Guurl bye. 

Drama on the Patio

Spotted a disturbance on the patio early this morning.

Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a bird emergency, with one seemingly in distress, two others trying to render aid.

When I moved the blinds away to get a clearer view, the helpers fled, leaving the injured bird behind.

Now what you need to know about me is I’m the kind of person that enjoys cats, dogs, birds, people but, ever since mom gave my dog Skippy away, only at a distance. I’m not the one who’s going to be performing CPR or, in the case of cats, dogs, birds, the one who will pick them up, transport to the nearest vet. Instead, I’ll make the calls to get help.

In short, I’m the helping kind ─ I'll stop, get involved, but I'm not the physically touching rendering aid kind.

Even when my twins were little and would get a splinter. I couldn’t handle it. I’d knock on a neighbor’s door and ask them to pull the splinter out. And God forbid, blood was involved. There would be screaming, vomiting, and not from the kids, but from me.

So with this bird on my patio, unable to fly, looking to be dying, it was high drama, with me begging “Pease don’t die on my patio”.

Hours went by.

Bird wasn't moving and looked to be fading.

From a safe distance, I began trickling cold water onto the patio, thinking a drink might do bird some good but still, bird wasn't moving.

I began thinking how sad to die alone on the patio and wondered if I could get maintenance to take the little corpse away, because no way would I ever go out onto the patio with a dead bird on it.

I regularly checked on the bird, sent water its way and whatdyaknow, along about 10:45 I saw this:

Bird 911 had come to the rescue.

Whatever food or medicine bird rescue had fed her (and somehow I know it’s a she), she seemed to perk up, was up and walking around, but still unable to fly.

That is until checking on her, shortly after 11:00, I found her to be gone.

Praise the Universe!

I don't know if it was the water, the TLC from the other bird, the prayers, or being able to rest undisturbed until whatever was wrong passed, but nothing dead for me to deal with on the patio!

Drama over, I got dressed and headed out for grocery shopping.

Would you believe, shortly after I returned, around 1:30, she came back.

I know it was she because I recognized the white spot on her tail.

Thinking maybe she’d left some sort of bird pheromones that led her back, I went out to sweep the patio.

She didn’t fly away.

She wasn’t afraid of me.

I swept the entire patio around her, she never moved. Even allowed me to get up close and take a photo of her fully recovered self.

I think I made a friend.

In fact, I think I made several friends because, for the remainder of the afternoon, I had bird visitors ... on the railing, close flybys.

Either several new friends for me or bird was telling her people, “You won’t believe what happened to me this morning” and her folks stopped by to see for themselves.

EARTHQUAKES!!!

Had one of my “I Forgot” days again.

Trainer had mentioned one of his clients is into country music and 5Ks, so I gave him a flyer about the Stampede 5K coming up in the area to pass on to her.

She, in turn, told Trainer to invite me to join her local walking group.

Wanting to know more about the group, I met up with Trainer’s client during her session at the Pain Cave, on Wednesday, and ended up joining her Pacer’s group, scheduled to meet up and walk this Saturday morning.

I inked in 7:00 Saturday to my planner.

The 4^th of July on Thursday threw me off my game. Thursday felt like a weekend, Friday felt like a weekend and I had to constantly remind myself .. no, today is Thursday … no, today is Friday. Somehow, things got twisted in my head and I began mentally mapping out … no, today is Thursday, remember to workout with Trainer … no, today is Friday, rest today and tomorrow to reserve energy for Sunday's group walk.

Not Saturday's group walk, but Sunday's.

And so it was when, along about 9:30 this morning, I happened to look at my planner and realized … no, the group walk was this morning, not tomorrow. I’d missed it.

Oh well.

Embarrassing, but there’s always next Saturday.

Adding to the holiday throwing me off my game, there was the chaos of two earthquakes.

Even though my friend the Archeologist, who lives a few blocks away, posted she’d felt Thursday’s 6.4 quake, I didn’t feel a thing.

A coworker friend, who also lives in this area, also felt Thursday’s quake, posting “Everyone my Rae Dunn is safe... I repeat, my Rae Dunn is safe from the earthquake!” LOL. (Rae Dunn being the hottest new trend in pottery and friend’s obsession).

Then I lost my Wi-Fi right in the middle of The Walking Dead Marathon on Friday, around noon. Don’t know if the quake or aftershocks was the cause, but I was without Wi-Fi until shortly after 4:00. 

No television.

No laptop.

Cell phone worked, but could not access Facebook or the PokémonGo app.

Though I like things peaceful and quiet, that was too much quiet for me. 

Even though I had needlepoint to occupy my time, meditation and a new read (Walter Mosley’s Down the River Unto the Sea), it was an awful couple of hours being cut off from the world without internet or television.

Then, after being without Wi-Fi earlier in the day, there was yet another earthquake, a whopping 6.9, around 8:15 that evening.

That one I felt.

It rolled on and on and on, causing the 5K medals on the bid/medal board to swing and clang into each other.

I didn’t feel panic as the rolling continued on and on gathering momentum. I was more in a state of suspended animation, frozen on the couch, not thinking, not moving, just observing, waiting to see what was next, and what came next was a mere nothing compared to all the devastation in the Ridgecrest area ─ a sign and a few books tipped over in the bookcase.

Inasmuch as, we are not only in the red fire zone area, but on a fault line, I think I’d better put together a kit for the car, including toiletries, makeup, water purifier and clothing). Because of my gut issues, food is going to be a problem, so I’ll have to wing it, take my chances during an emergency that I can find fresh veggies, or just let myself be sick on ramen noodles and crackers.

I’m also redoing my go-bag to focus on important papers and Creative Memory photo albums, striking off the list the laptops because laptops can be replaced. The only electronic I really need is the cellphone ─ the only item that worked during the Wi-Fi outage, which can also be used as a flashlight.

Happy Birthday America

And Happy Birthday Captain America!

Nothing special happening for us seniors today and looks like the nation is going to be presented with a whole lot of nothing coming to us in the guise of a spectacle wasting an enormous amount of money while migrant children go without soap and toothpaste.

On a personal level, this holiday started off with a BANG, literally and figuratively when granddaughter messaged she’d been the victim of a hit and run.

Second time the Saturn has been hit since I turned it over to her.

I think it was bad luck when she removed my old “Jesus Loves You But I’m His Favorite” sticker because first there was the Saturn being sideswiped.

And now a full on assault.

The good news is she and her boyfriend were banged up, sore, but neither seriously injured due to the quick thinking of boyfriend.

Boyfriend was driving and, while in a turn, spotted the car flying down the street, heading directly towards granddaughter in the passenger seat. Boyfriend quickly sped up to try to avoid the impact and, from where the damage is located, looks like they almost escaped the hit.

Not only did boyfriend’s quick thinking save granddaughter from serious harm, he was able to chase the guy down and take photos of his license plate.

The police ran the plates, got the drivers info, but said granddaughter and boyfriend will have to wait for about 10 days for a report as to who hit and run guy is.

How much you wanna bet hit and run guy has no insurance.

Ugly as the Saturn now looks, granddaughter says the car still drives fine but, of course, it can’t be driven with the tail light missing.

It looks fixable, if they can find a good body shop. Fixable but expensive. Not to mention what this is going to do to her insurance rate.

Oh well, such is life.

Granddaughter says she learned through this experience that boyfriend and she have different methods of responding to almost losing their lives. Boyfriend was all heroic when he needed to be. However, after all was said and done, reality set in and boyfriend experienced a panic attack and had to lay down. Granddaughter broke her diet and ate a pop tart.

Mending Fences

Heading out for this morning’s Pain Cave workout, I made a point of leaving a few minutes early so I could check into the Community Room, take a few quick photos for the residents’ facebook page of the July 4th Potluck preparations.

Approaching the door, I spied a notice indicating “Classes Cancelled”.

What classes, thought I.

Entering the room, I didn’t see any preparations for the day ─ it was early yet, but I did find a handful of seniors wondering same as I ... what classes?

After working out, I checked back into the Community Room to take photos.

There was nothing.

No Activity Director.

No hot dogs.

No potato salad.

No nothing.

Evidently "classes" meant today's potluck.

Hopefully, not too many seniors got stuck with side dishes and deserts they'd prepared for the potluck.

There were a few residents in the room, discussing the situation and, what do you know, The Seer was one of them.

Surprising.

Even more surprising, she was talking to others in the room ─ something she hasn’t done since around this time last year. With the Shadow always in her ear and she in his ─ both finding fault, causing discord, she had no need for any of us.

Watching her interact, my spidey sense said it’s now about mending fences.

Well, good luck with that, I thought to myself as I reflected on how awful she’d been, especially her bullying of Church Lady. Church Lady had approached me in tears a few months ago telling me how hurt she was by the Seer’s alienation, inasmuch as the two had previously been so close, “Like sisters” Church Lady had said.

“You can’t take it personal. She’s pushed all of us away”, said I at the time.

“Because of HIM!”, Church Lady replied.

“Yes. She’s thinking she can bring him up. Instead, he’s dragging her down”.

Seer must have read what I was thinking because she couldn’t look me in the eyes.

She so avoided facing me that I wasn’t able to say hello or long time no see. However, as I was leaving the Community Room, I stopped just outside the door to take a photo of the bus bringing back a group of seniors from that wretched senior center in the Walking Dead part of town.

From the looks of all the writing on the bus (Bingo, Daily Lunch, Activities, Classes), it looks like that senior center has it going on and maybe they do, that is if you can live with the old rickety building, the moldy/mildew smell and being packed like sardines in a can.

At any rate, as I was taking the photo, the Seer came out of the Community Room and, speaking to my back said, “Hi, Shirley”.

“Hey”, said I without turning around. “I haven’t seen you in a long time”.

“Trying to stay out of trouble”.

I went for it ─ “Good luck with that”, said I.