What’s Happening Now

It’s been quiet as a tomb around here, at the senior complex.

Now that I no longer have to check the mail box daily — because it wasn’t safe to leave mail overnight with the mail thief on the loose, I have no reason to go outside except on workout days when I head to the Pain Cave. Consequently, I’m not constantly running into this person, that person, getting fed the latest 411.

I did one day run into a resident I was accustomed to seeing at events but only once since the pandemic put an end to events ─ Diane, who was mentioned way back in the blog as having come to a Halloween Costume event as a nun.

It’s been so long that I forget her backstory but, insofar as I can recall, she’d been a brilliant woman, employed in a high-functioning job, until an automobile accident left her prone to seizures and unable to hold down a job.

She came to us after allowing her grown children to create so much havoc at where she was living that she’d been evicted; and once she moved in here, her children continued to be a pain in that, at one point, they drained so much of what little resources she had (I’m assuming disability) that she couldn’t pay her utility bills.

I remember telling her that I’d been there done that and, as difficult as it is sometimes, one has to cut the cord and put oneself first.

I don’t know how that ended, but she’s still here these seven years later, seems happy and content.

Evidently she, like many others, had gotten a pet to help her through quarantine because, last time I ran into her, she was out walking a puppy.

Not seeing her with a pup this time, I inquired and learned she had to put her puppy to sleep because it needed a costly medical procedure ($6,000) and, as she put it, “I have no money”.

Heartbreaking decision to have made, but so it goes when one is on a limited income. On the other hand, I kinda think she should have known better than to bring a pet into her life knowing that just the shots and vet visits alone would hammer what little she had.

My great grandson Patches, a Jack Russell Terrier, came to be family when he was a pup.

Granddaughter was working in the leasing office of an apartment complex and, while checking an apartment vacated over the weekend, found the residents had left the puppy behind ─ no water, no food.

She rescued the puppy, became his mom ... making me a GG and, believe it or not to this day, some 7 years later, Patches shows indication of having abandonment issues from being left in that apartment alone.

At any rate, about three years ago, Patches was in need of a $5,000 operation.

Granddaughter couldn’t afford it, so Twin 2 stepped in ─ even though she herself was not financially in a good place at that time. Nevertheless Twin 2 stepped out on faith, made arrangements with the vet and trusted the Universe that she’d be able to come up with the money on a payment plan.

A gofundme page netted a couple hundred dollars. Then, lo and behold, I was blessed with that windfall which not only put me in a good place, financially speaking, but allowed me to take that burden off Twin 2 by paying the vet off.

Patches .. protecting his new toy

Diane didn’t have that kind of family support and, actually, I got the feeling, now that quarantine is over, she was glad to be rid of the puppy, because she said, “I tried sooooo hard, I really tried, but he was peeing on everything”.

As for other neighbors ... from my perch on the couch, I see The Baker has graduated from a walker to a motorized scooter. The Seer's Shadow is no longer walking on his own, he now uses a walker.

I've been summoned to appear at the medical center tomorrow for a blood pressure check.

I don't think it's necessary, and I'm not wanting to take drives out-of-the-area while we're under the threat of a gas shortage. I still remember what life was like in the 70's when I had to get up early, get in a gas line BEFORE the station was even open, so I could get gas before the lines got too long and the station ran out.

Consequently, I'm wanting not to go anywhere that requires using gas. I'm even thinking of walking to the Pain Cave, but I'll hold off on that until the shortage actually reaches California and our area. Walking to the Pain Cave is easy peasy. Walking back, after a workout, is a different animal.

So, though I don't want to go for that pressure check tomorrow, it's necessary if I want to continue receiving medication, as I've actually been threatened with medication being withheld when I've not complied.

Would the medical center actually have done so?

Put me in danger of a stroke?

I dunno, but I wasn't chancing it.