esrosedotblog

After a week away at the beach, I am recovering. In a nice way.

I am doing the chores, taking the walks, and doing the blog posts. Among other things.

It is nice to go away and it is good to be back.

Today has been the best full day since the return. Off to the store, back for little chores, naps at the usual time and so on.

It seems weird to need a vacation when I am already retired but a change of scene is good for everyone.

And a little time alone.

At the end of the month, John will take a break and I will be the stay at home.

So far, Marcus has no plans to travel. But we never know.

Labels: routine

We are well into 2015 and life has become more normalized.

I went to the gym then a Meeting then home and made some phone calls. A nap of course and lunch followed by a "movie".

Today, the fourth season of Big Bang Theory. First three episodes. Nice.

They are getting dressed up for New Year's Eve party at Stuart's video store.

It gets better with time. Earning a rich 5 out of Netflix5. I have a long way to go. They are in their eighth season. Well, is it half full or half empty? Half full.

Some emails are flying today about the condo association and there is a mild scuffle between a new member and the chairman. The new member is a neighbor. In fact there are two near neighbors on the Board. We will own the place! I am not in the scuffle, meaning that I don't much care how it comes out.

I do my job. Count the money, report at meetings, meet with the management company and generally work behind the scenes. I like it.

The weather is very 2014. The late summer or early fall.

This is why people come to Palm Springs to vacation in the winter months. Right now it is in the 80s, the dry 80s. Tonight it will go down to a brrrr-fifty.

Labels: routine, television, weather

There is nothing to report today.

I met with my counterpart at the condo management company. Getting ready for Saturday's Annual Meeting.

I don't have much to do at the Annual but there will be a regular Board meeting after we are done with the big show.

Most people will stay.

Fortunately, we are only in the second month of the fiscal year so there won't be much about that. I will show the close of the Annual but that has already been distributed to people. Any questions, at this point, are moot.

The year is over.

The rest of the day was just normal fiddling and little chores. A good time was had by all.

Labels: routine

We are back to normal.

Sort of. To the extent that things are ever normal here.

Our daughter Lisa has gone back home to Northfield MA.

We had a great time together. Always do.

I took a huge nap today. Not because I was tired out or even missed any sleep while she was here but it is an adjustment which requires a bit extra sleep to resume life's rhythms.

I know. That sounds like bullshit. But it is not. For me. Sleep is the great cure and regenerator. Sadness can be salved, intentions can be resharpened and, as it happens, routine can become re-engaged.

I watched a movie, you knew that. I am making dinner for two. Back to the menu list, a hundred twenty separate items in rotation. A system always works for me.

Sausage, this time the real pork kind, on mashed (modeled after bangers and mash from England) and a side of peas with pearl onions. A salad.

And prep for tomorrow. Fruit to be thawed for my yogurt and fruit morning. This alternates with the egg and apple sauce days.

Blah blah. See? I am boring again.

Labels: food, routine

We did the Sunday walk this morning.

The one we all three did together until Booker's death last week.

Booker's death. I had been using the euphemisms and have stopped. He died. He is dead.

My god how I miss him.

But it is better today as it was yesterday.

Today we are remembering funny stories, things he did that amused us or things we did that amused him.

He was a daddy's boy and, in his case, a daddy's boy twice. Two Dads.

He had a set of responses that fit each of us.

On the walk it was understood that he would lead and John would hold the leash. I pretty much let them do their work and tagged along. It was my job to carry and use the poop bags.

Mostly, we saw his ass as it walked purposely where the nose led it.

He had a purpose and sometimes would reveal it, other times not.

Then there were the unaccounted for stops. A quick halt or a fast reverse to examine some spot that had changed or some area another dog had been and perhaps (better) peed in. There were also the standard stops. A certain patch of grass that would provide a quick snack. The huge water fountain and pool at an apartment complex down the road. And the pooping places. Almost always the same chosen from about five optional locations.

We were to wait.

Eventually he would move on for the walk. His Dads following dutifully.

He had several routes but in the last months the directions pretty much followed what we call "the dead babies walk".

It is so named because it passes an RC church that has, in its lawn, a small monument to all the aborted babies who died, I guess, ever. Yup.

We would almost always pass when the first Mass was assembling so we kept the remarks and ripostes down to a dull roar. I am happy to report that Booker never, ever, peed on that little monument. Not that we tried to restrain him in any way. But he never did it. I figure it was out of a sensitivity, more sensitivity than I have, to the assembled church goers.

Today, our walk was nice and not morbid in any way. We did a little reminiscing. And then we came home. Enough.

I don't know if we will do this again.

We did the after dinner walk together last night and it was too hot to do again. Booker and I could do it at a slow amble pace but it is not walking weather now after about noon. Soon, earlier.

It can be done and if you are a confirmed desert rat even be enjoyable. But not for two at a fast pace.

I miss him and think of him often. Not all the time now. It is hardest at those times we would ritualistically meet. At the morning pee. I have gone out each morning for a little weep and goodbye to the stars.

He would always be there when there was food. Not so much because he loved me, which he did, but because I loved him and would spoil him with tastes and bites. Likewise when it is his meal time a little mental bell rings and I want to answer by getting out the kibble. But that job is over.

People want to know when or if we are getting a new puppy. The new convertible is the clearest answer we can give. It is not dog-able. And we are not goddam getting another new car for a long time. It is embarrassing enough that we did this one so soon. But the car pre-empts. I think we will need this. At two or three weeks we might get an itch which would send us to the Airedale Rescue people to get a new guy. And that is not going to happen. Sad but true.

Labels: Booker, family, routine

So I left out one of the most daily of the daily routines.

The gym.

I still go. I could not not go.

That is not me, incidentally. But you can look at him. I have.

Something in me fades out if I am not at Golds every morning at 412 AM more or less.

I begin on the recumbent bike and get going. Keep the heart rate at 100 which for my age is the right target. A nice thing about aging is that the ideal heart rate for exercise goes down. I suppose eventually it will be zero and I will be there. I think that 100 is it. The chart that I have stops at 70. I am 7 years past that. Add it up. I am quite proud of it.

150 beats per minute is the maximum rate for me. I am not sure I could muster that nor will I be trying it any time soon.

Half an hour on the bike and I will move on to stretches. The shoulder bar twists, ten up, ten bent. The railing around the stair well, three pipes high. Each stretch twice. Bottom rail, foot and ankle back pull it out. Then the other one. Next foot up on the middle rail, up on toes. Down. Then full leg to the top bar, out straight stretch that hamstring, ooh aahh. Done. Off to the abs now on a machine. There are two. I alternate.

The rest is all weight training downstairs. Ten reps twice or to failure on each exercise. Monday, I skip it and go home after the cardio. Tuesday I do the chest. Wednesday, the legs, machine squats and calf burns with some leg curls. Thursday is easy. I do the shoulders; presses at angles and some raises and I am out. Friday the back. Various alternatives like rowing, pulldowns and the like.

Saturday no gym. Sunday the same but we do a family walk, all three for a theoretical hour. Actually it is usually 45 minutes.

Then Monday again.

The gym is, more than in the past, a small social occasion. Nothing long. But mini chats between sets with a large cast of people.

I am a long time fixture at the gym now. A familiar face to many. I usually outlast all of them who show up at that time. Only a few have been there from the beginning. Youseff and a guy I do not speak to. He is a yakker and I fear being caught in his conversational web.

Others fit in when I have seen them for awhile. I do the straight guy "get acquainted" thing. First the slightly perceptible head nod, then a smile on top of it. Later, a "good morning" or a straight guy "hey" and, if I have been interested enough to get the name I will use it. I ask the desk guy. I would never ask the person. Weird. But there it is. After quite a while there might be an exchange of info. I have made some longer term more serious friends. Many of those have passed on to other times. Some to the gym in the sky. John who comes every day is a relative newcomer but I enjoy his company a great deal. "New comer" means a couple of years ago. Not 1976.

I know and like one of the desk guys. The other one, newer, is stiff and unavailable.

I still wear earplugs throughout. I do not want to hear the music. If I talk to someone I take one plug out. I am not the only one who shuts out the music although most people use earphones with their own melodies. At my age, one's head music tends to be more enjoyable than anything by others. Meditation practice has helped me to keep mental chatter down and the mind centered. I like to focus on the muscle and not do much else.

I do read on the bike for half an hour. I cannot sustain self discipline otherwise. The time passes much more quickly. I have a Kindle now. Gasp.

I will write about the Kindle another time but it is a by product of brief chats with others at the gym. A woman who is there every day came up to me while I was biking a year ago and asserted herself with a suggestion that I get a Kindle. On her advice I got one. The rest is history. I am totally bookless now. Everything is electronic. When I am not in the gym I have the Kindle app on my iPad.

Yes, that too. A fucking iPad. I love it. More about that too at a later time.

Labels: gym, routine

TOPSY TURVY

This is one of those days that I simply cannot hold on to my normal routine.

This is grooming day for Franklin. Take him in at 9 then wait for a phone call anytime between 90 and 120 minutes that he is done.

Then, by coincidence, this is the day that the guys come to do the bimonthly washing of the windows. Bimonthly. Does that mean every two months? If so, that is what they are doing. If not, well, figure it out.

They were late.

I had to call the owner twice about it. "Are they coming"?

I discovered later that he is in Hawaii. I was calling at 830AM and there is a three hour difference.

The guys told me.

Yikes. He didn't tell me where he was. Such is the downside of carrying a cell phone.

At the same time I took Franklin in and the window guys came, the third drier arrived!

They took out Number Two with the blown circuit board and left an entirely new one which so far is WORKING! It has churned out four loads already. Not a hitch.

Then, time to go get Franklin.

Then a call from Europe where our friends are summering! We were here. All together. Very nice.

But by the end of the morning, I was ready for my routine to resume.

A good day if not a standard one.

Labels: routine

HIGH TEST

It is 425 AM and I am about to take off for the medical testing lab.

I have to leave some blood for my PSA and other tests that my Doc thought I should have.

I am totally happy that this lab opens at 5 AM.

I hate lines and there is always a line at the lab and that is to say nothing about the whole array of annoying people and procedures that come with the line.

When I leave there will be 4 or 5 people waiting.

Another thing. At 5 AM I don't have to worry about fasting. Well, I will delay one yogurt and fruit for an hour.

I just get up, do some of my normal things, then take off to do get the blood work done.

I can come home, have my breakfast and nearly have my normal day.

I will lose and hour so I won't do biking but that is OK. I will get to read up a bit.

Beating the system. First in line. Part of my life story.

Labels: health, routine

OFF LIMITS

We live on a hill. Actually, a mesa.

They call our neighborhood 'the mesa'.

The mesa has two sides.

There is a connecting road from one side of the hill to the other.

You go up and you come down in a 'U' shape.

At the base of the 'U' at the very top, the road is actually on private property and is not a public right of way.

We have never observed this. The owner of most of the property never objected when we walked there.

But she has died and the property has been sold and we are no longer welcome to walk through the new man's property.

Now this is perfectly understandable.

If I lived up there I wouldn't want a parade of dog walkers and all going by 10 feet away from my front door either.

So I understand why he has closed the gates (and written a few terse notes to some people who went around them).

And yet, there is a feeling of loss; an entitlement (not) has been taken away.

It doesn't make sense and it will only last a few days.

If you get anything out of being 70, you get a handle on dealing with loss.

And I don't say that in a self-pitying way. Life is gain and loss. The loss is almost always replaced. Well, until the very end. Then you don't know that it happened anyway.

The costs of this one are few.

It will be a bit difficult explaining to Franklin why we can't make the U.

I will miss seeing the houses on the other side.

But there are solutions.

The magnificent view is not lost. There are many other vantage points. We will go there and stand and look and look and look.

And we can walk up the both sides separately and come back down again.

It is just that when we have a routine we don't want it to change even if it is the right thing.

Labels: neighborhood, routine

SHOT II

We went out for lunch today.

For me, that is unprecedented.

But, some friends from Boston were in town and a mutual friend wanted us all to get together for the day and we did.

We took Franklin.

We had a nice time.

And it shot the afternoon.

It was worth it in this case but it seldom is.

By 'shot' I mean that it takes time to get dressed and to drive and to be there and to come home and to change again and before you know it you have cut 3 hours or more out of the day.

It is good practice to go once in awhile and set a standard.

Unless it is as worthwhile as today's investment was, it is a waste of time to go out for lunch.

At home, I can get it all done in 30 minutes and I can do some reading while it happens.

Nonetheless, thanks Bob for a nice time.

Labels: lunch, routine