WHAT'S NEW IN THE NEWS

 My kids are starting to make fun of me . . .   (Well that's really not true, they have been making fun of me for years.   I tell them I am just providing them with material to laugh at when I die,).  The most recent source of entertainment in their world is my constant source of information.  Most of my conversations these days begin with, "You know what I read in the paper today?" 

 After all those years of never having time to read a paper it is one of my indulgences that I truly enjoy.  There are many days when I don't take the time to sit on the lanai and read the paper as I eat breakfast so I end up with a stack of newspapers that I "really have to get to" but never do. My recycle bin is full every week with "old" papers.  

I started getting the daily paper after husband died. He was the ultimate source of local information because of his attention to EVERYTHING in the paper and on TV.  I have taken up his passion for newspapers but for a totally different reason.   I honestly don't care about the sports section and classifieds but the rest of it is quite entertaining.  I can ALWAYS find a story about something stupid that someone has said or done. That's a given when you live in Flori-DUH.    But there is interesting stuff too.  

Today I read that the desert sands from Africa are headed this way so watch out hurricane season.  Did you know that our hurricanes begin in Africa ?  The sand there fills the air and blows out across the ocean where those sand particles pick up moisture.  They then gather and grow into storms.  (That's the very simplified version0. The more sand blowing the more storms.   I'm not quite ready to put up my hurricane shutters but I will be paying attention.  

Along with that our Death train, the Brightline, in in financial trouble.  I guess they have had to pay for too may funerals for all the people they have run over. Which really isn't fair since the train did not case down these idiots who insist on walking or driving on the train tracks.  I really think victims should be paying the poor engineer of the train who is now in major therapy for PTSD after killing someone who jumped in front of the train or was too stupid, drunk or stoned to realize a train was coming.  As for the idiots who drive across the tracks while the gates are down, lights are flashing and bells are ringing as the train races down the tracks at 80 MPH while blasting its horn . . .  Well, honestly they are no loss to humanity since they are the dumbest of the dumb. 

Also in todays paper . . . one of Jeff Bezos' rockets blew up at Cape Kennedy yesterday.  No one was hurt but it was quite the show. The flames lit up the sky for miles and miles.  I was not outside last night so I did not get to witness this but from what the paper said I probably could have seen it from the beach near me.  

Lastly, there was a good editorial about The Donald recently going for his annual physical.  (Stay with me here. I am not pushing my political opinion.). The writer of the editorial voiced all the things that I have been thinking for years.  There is NO comparison between the health of The Donald and that of Biden when he was president.  It seems that one of the BIG "concerns" of those trying to make us believe that Trump is unfit for the job of president its the fact that he has large purple bruises on his hands!!          HELLO !!!!!! . . .   Anyone over the age of 70 is familiar with that affliction.  If you don't have large purple bruises over 90 % of your. body you are blessed for sure.  All I have to do is gently bump into a pillow and I immediately turn purple where ever I bumped.  Dwayne experienced the same thing. And NO, neither of us were/are on blood thinners.  We did/do take a small amount of aspirin each day but My shin would get these bruises even before I started on the aspirin a day routine.  People are constantly asking me what I did to cause such a mark.  If I fell down a flight of stairs or something.  Nope, I just knocked into the sofa or some equally innocuous item.  

The other observation that is being made of our president is that his hands appear swollen.  Yes?  And?  This is seemingly unusual to some folks who are not old enough to experience the joys of aging.  Not only does our skin get so much thinner so it bruises much easier but swelling of the extremities is very common in us older folks.  Standing or sitting for long periods of time causes feet and legs AND HANDS to swell.  It is unavoidable unless you choose to lie in bed all day and do nothing.  Contrary to popular opinion excessive activity or rest isn't good for old folks.  We need to learn moderation. something I and my president seem to be unable to do.  I could not keep the schedule President Trump keeps. I would be dead in a matter of weeks.  

It is also a proven fact that the older we get the less filters we have.  If I THINK something there is a really good chance I will SAY it.  I victim of a double whammy in that department.  My mother was famous for no filters.   Open mouth . . . insert foot.    There was no knowing what she was going to say. And this is true of her from the day I was old enough to listen to her.  (Not listen as in obey, because that NEVER happened. But listen to her when she was speaking to other people.  She was someone who people loved in spite of what she said to you.).   I do try to think before I speak but that is getting harder and harder the older I get.  There just comes a point in your life when you say, "Screw it !!!  I think it so I say it!"  Sorry if it offends you but that's how I feel.    

I guess that's why I blog. 

TODAY'S MAIL

 I would like to ask all of you out there to pray for my mailman.  He is going to need surgery to repair the hernia he is getting from delivering my mail.  I'm sure that after bringing all this crap to me for the past 9 years he will be due for surgery very soon.

I started my morning today by walking out to the parking lot to bring in my paper recycle bin from yesterday's trash pick-up. Then I walked around to my mail box to collect yesterday's mail. Good thing I had the recycle bin with me because I had SEVENTEEN  requests for donations stuffed into my mail box.  Seventeen ?  I'm sure most people. don't get that much mail in a month.  Lucky me !!!

Included in this collection of solicitations from various cancer societies, missions, medical aid groups, homes for children in need, the blind, the deaf  and Lord knows what else,  I have received a garbage can full of FREE gifts.   For some reason these charitable organizations seem to think that if they send me a gift worth one dollar I will in turn send them a check for $35 or more dollars.  (The good old days of sending a check for five or ten dollars are long gone. The base amount of a contribution is now $35. All that for sending me a pen that doesn't work.)

But wait . . .   The charities have gotten very creative these days.  It used to be I would receive twelve bazillion address labels in the mail in the course of a month. (Half of which had.my name spelled wrong, all of which I tossed in the trash). I guess I wasn't the only one who had no need for that many address labels.  The charities decided to get creative with their. gifts. Now I no l longer have 12 bazillion stickers, Instead I have 12 bazillion plastic grocery bags!!!  I could probably stand outside of Publix grocery store for 24 hours handing out a bag to every customer going into the store and I would still have enough to come back another day.  (I am actually thinking of sewing the bags together to make rugs for my living room and bedroom.  Possibly the dining room too.). 

Fortunately we are not limited to just grocery bags.  Some of the organizations really have gotten quite creative. In yesterday's mail I received the following:  2 bleach pens for getting stains out of laundry items,             1 combination pen-flashlight-screw driver,         A box of 6 reusable straws (I have no idea what that is all about but I will give them a try),            1 bowl scraper to use when I am baking the apple pie, fry bread and fruit pudding that I received the recipes for,         1 2027 wall calendar,        a check for $1.95      and.           a one dollar bill, (which I promise not to spend all in one place.). 

Very creative indeed.    Now you understand why I am concerned for my mailman's health.  This mail all arrived in one delivery.  If you multiply that by 6 days in a week,    52 weeks in a year I figure my mailman will be in need of surgery in about 37 weeks.   If I send you all a letter asking for a contribution will you please send a check for at least $35 for the Mailman's health fund?  

Sorry I don't have any more plastic grocery bags to add to my request but I gave them all away to different charities.  

WEIRD STUFF

 I bet you've been sitting on the edge of your chair just waiting for this blog.  Wasn't it two or three days ago that I promised I'd give you part 2 of my last post TOMORROW . . .  Oops . . .  I got distracted.  Every so often I will have a day where I actually have ambition and energy and if I don't jump on it I will just sink into the couch and do nothing productive.  That was the case this past weekend. The lanai has been a mess, weeds, dirt, furniture not in its place. I think I may have been going for the "City dump" look, which I achieved.  I spent the weekend outside in the hot sun trying to clean up the patio to the best of my aching body's ability.  I found out that my garden hose has sprung a leak that rivals Old Faithful.  It was hard to power wash the cement when half the water was pouring out from the middle of the hose.  I sure hope Snidely the snake wasn't out there because he would have been washed away.  (Yes I have a snake or two living in the overgrown weed patch that I call a garden) Every so often I will go out side and find him sunning himself in the middle of the lanai where it is nice and warm.  He's about 3 feet long. (Not any where close to the size of the Pythons that are over running or should I say slithering all over the Everglades.)  

But I digress.   I am back now at 5:30 in the morning to finish the story that I started on Friday. Onward to the weird stuff. 

The morning after my grand daughter's high school graduation I had a bone density test at a local hospital. (Something my doctor likes me to have done every 2 years. I keep telling her that my bones are fine, it's my brain that I worry about.).  Off I go for the scan and when I arrive at the hospital I realize I don't have my drivers license.  (I have been changing pocketbooks almost daily because of all the different events.). I fully expected it would be a problem to register for the scan but fortunately I was "IN THE SYSTEM" Which kind of worries me at times.  Who is in charge of THE SYSTEM?  What do they know?? When did I first enter THE SYSTEM???  Can I get out of THE SYSTEM ????  So many questions.

But in this case it was a good thing. I was not required to prove to anyone that I was indeed who I say I am.  (If I had known this I may have decided to be the King of France or someone much more interesting than me.).  

To continue . . .   I do the scan and drive back home very carefully so I will not give any cop a reason to pull me over and ask to see my drivers license. Which I don't have.  All the way home I am going over in my mind where the holy hell I have put my ID.  I of course come up with nothing.  I knew I had it on Thursday because I showed it to the guard at the gate of my daughter's community. Beyond that I haven't a clue. We had gone to dinner, attended the graduation and out for a second dinner so my grand daughter could finally eat.  (She had been on the go all day and was starving.). I got home at 10:30 PM and went to bed.  Next day my ID is missing.  I had been taking tissues and phone in and out of my purse all during dinner and the graduation. I could have dropped the license anywhere.  I call my daughter and ask her to check her house and car. I look ALL over my place. I go out to my car TWICE to look under the seats, in the door, between the seats, under my car. I looked everywhere !!!!!  I dumped all three pocketbooks out on the bed and went through every pocket and wallet. NOTHING !!!  I checked the 2 bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room AND the messy lanai.  The ID was no where to be found. 

Now I have to tell you that the entire time I am searching I am talking to my Guardian Angel, Maggs. Think what you will but I KNOW we all have a guardian angel who can hear us when we speak. I talk to Maggs, (short for Magnificent ) all the time.  He/she does not answer me, (I do NOT hear voices in my head) nor can I see this celestial being but I know he/she is doing a great job watching over me.  (Lord knows how I ever would have made it this far without an angel.).     So here I am, walking around the house searching for my ID card while asking my angel to help me find the stupid thing.  I go out to my car for the third time and still have no luck, I even walk over to the mailboxes to see if I might have dropped it there. At this point I'm deciding how and when I can get a new license.  I walk into the house muttering to myself and look over at the kitchen island and there sits my drivers license . . .  In the middle of the empty counter . . .  The license is white, the counter top is black . . . I could NOT MISS seeing it.   Yet I had spent an hour walking back and forth past this counter and not seen ANYTHING !!!!!!!!!!

I checked my closets for someone hiding in there because there HAD to be someone in the house who put my card on the kitchen counter.  Nope . . .  There is no hole in the ceiling where the ID fell through from outer space . . .  WHAT HAPPENED ????????????????????????

I have no explanation for this . . .   except   THANK YOU MAGGS.  

STUFF AND WEIRD STUFF

 It's only a month and two days since I told you I would write more often.  My Bad.  The days are flying by and I no longer choose to run in the rat race.  I am getting tired just watching my kids trying to stay ahead of life. I remember sitting in school waiting for the bell that signaled freedom. The day seemed endless.  Now I just blink and the day has gone by and I have accomplished nothing except getting out of bed and eating everything in sight.  I only eat one meal a day because I don't have the time to squeeze in any more.  Ahhhhhhh. the joys of getting older.

Yesterday was a testament to this.  Grand daughter #2 graduated from high school !!  My little baby girl is now 18 years old and headed to college this summer. WHERE HAVE THE YEARS GONE ?????????????  So many memories and it still feels like she was born yesterday.  How is this possible ?   

K had her graduation party this past Sunday. Friends and family. Lots of excitement but not nearly as much as yesterday. I swear that girl was vibrating like a guitar string. She was SO EXCITED.   She spent the last 4 years working hard and getting the full high school experience. She was secretary of the student government for 4 years. She took college level classes and she had a zillion friends.  And FINALLY, here it is . . . The BIG day !  I think I was as excited as she was if that were possible,  

Graduation was at 6 PM at the South Florida Fair Grounds. 500 kids in her graduating class. That is a shit load of kids. But I must say it was extremely well organized and in 2 hours from start to finish we were heading back to the car. With a thousand stops along the way for the girl to take pictures with EVERYONE ! My girl wore her sashes, ropes and medals proudly and didn't stop smiling for one second.  How ir was possible that I enjoyed her graduation more than my children's or my own??  (I know why I enjoyed this graduation more than my own because for the entire duration of MY graduation day I was expecting someone to reach out and stop me because I really didn't have enough classes to graduate.  I HATED high school and to this day have blocked out most memories of those 4 years of agony.)

But here I am. Watching my daughter's daughter walk across that huge stage to get her diploma.  WOW WOW WOW !!!!

By the end of the night the excruciating pain in my feet and legs was nothing. I would do anything for my girls.  I can't tell you how long it has been since I wore new shoes WITH a heel. (That REALLY reminded me of my age.) Of course we walked and stood in lines for hours before, during and after the ceremony.  It was worth every blister, bunion and bruise. (But I DID LOOK GOOD!).  

We had eaten an early dinner/late lunch before the ceremony so we were able to survive the endless parade of graduates crossing the stage and the speeches by students, faculty, school principal and district superintendent.  All of which were thankfully short and almost entertaining at times. But the festivities didn't end there.  K just didn't want the night to end so we went to a local restaurant so she could eat,(at 10 PM). My daughter and I had mocktails, (No alcohol because we both would have fallen asleep.) We all sat and chatted until K's "little" brother almost fell asleep at the table. ((He is 15 and so tall and skinny. But when 10 o'clock rolls around he is DONE !!! )

We all said goodnight and I was home by 10;20 and I am WIDE AWAKE !!!  I tried watching some TV. No luck. I took a hot shower, nothing.  I lay down in bed reading. Nope.  I get up and wander into the kitchen to make a cup of tea with honey and go sit in my favorite recliner. It's dark, it's comfortable, the tea is hot and I have a good book. Still I am not tired !!  THAT is how awesome the day was.  I finally went back to bed at 5 AM but had to get up at 10 for a bone density test at the hospital. (Something I have done every 2 years)  Since my normal night's sleep is TEN hours I was so tired that when I came home from the test I crawled up on the bed and slept for 2 hours.  

I'm feeling great right now but I wonder what tonight has in store for me.  Maybe if I can't sleep tonight I'll have some ice cream at 3 AM to see if that puts me to sleep.. 

Come back tomorrow for the "Weird Stuff" part of this blog.  

A BUSY DAY FOR THE PALM BEACH POST

 I REALLY enjoy reading the newspaper.  As a kid we always got the paper delivered to our home each day. I never read anything except the comics. Especially the Sunday comics!  They were in color !!  And there were puzzles to do. It was better than a coloring book.  I remember my dad reading the comics to me when I was little. His favorite comic was POGO. I know, I'm dating myself. But after a childhood of Pogo it was an easy slide into being a MAD MAGAZINE fan in my teenage years.   

Then there was high school, college, marriage, children and all those other things that took up my day so I never got around to reading a paper. When Husband retired he would sit in his recliner every day and read the paper cover to cover.  There was no need for me to "waste" my time reading a paper because Husband would tell me all the "important" things that he read.  It was always so convenient just asking Ger "What are they building down town?", or "I heard a bunch of sirens yesterday. What was that all about?"  He ALWAYS knew what was happening as long as it had been posted in the paper.  (That and Fox News)

Now that I am retired and older I get to read my own newspaper each day and I love it!   Each morning I look forward to the game of hide and seek as I go out side my lanai to see where the delivery person has hidden my paper today. Some days it is on the roof. Some days behind the bushes. There are days that I have actually found it IN the tree right outside my lanai.  I must say that the most recent delivery guy is REALLY good at putting my paper right outside the screen door. I must thank him/her for that because most mornings I am just getting up and Lord knows what I might be wearing.  It's wonderful having a condo that faces the back so the likely hood of anyone seeing me are slim to none but you never know. 

Once I find my. paper I retire to the hightop table outside the kitchen door with a cup of coffee or a breakfast shake.  (I really am trying to eat healthy but I will often have a piece of banana bread or a danish along with my drink.).  The little table is in the shade so even on those broiling hot days it's a comfortable place to enjoy a nibble and some news. 

The Palm Beach Post isn't really much of a paper which is fine with me.  I do not like the stuffy leftist New Your Times.  The Post leans far enough Left but it isn't pompous like the times.   (Personally I think that people who read the Times are just pretending to look intelligent and snooty.). The Post fits me just fine and gives me PLENTY of things to make me laugh. 

Normally Monday's paper is so thin that I have extra difficulty finding it if it's hiding in the grass or shrubs. While Sunday's paper is SO heavy I need a wagon to bring it into my home.   There are more inserts and adds and "garbage" stuffed into Sunday's paper that I nearly fill my paper recycle bin in one day. So I guess by Monday the editor doesn't have much news left over. But thin as the Monday paper may be it was chock full of good stuff today. 

Let me start with the front page headline.   PILOT SUSES TO PREVENT NAMING AIRPORT FOR TRUMP      Some idiots down here have decided they want to change Palm Beach International Airport to Donald Trump airport.  Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE THE DONALD !!!  But I really don't think we need to change the name of our little airport just because that is where he always flys into when visiting his home on Palm Beach Island.  President Trump knows how much MOST of us South Florida residents love him. BUT to try to take this to court is just plain silly.  

And while we are on the subject of Our President . . . in today's paper there is also an article about the helipad at Mar-a-Lago.  Yes folks, The President. of the United States has a small helipad on HIS property. No one was objecting to that. until it was announced that the helipad needed to be made slightly larger because the new helicopters being used by our government to transport any president are now larger than previous ones.   This apparently has upset some residents of the posh community living on the "exclusive" island of Palm Beach.  REALLY ????   The residents of the island are not opposed to the helicopters, just to making the landing area larger by 2 feet on each side.  HUH???

Moving past the next 3 articles regarding our president . . .. (It must have been a slow day, Only 4 articles about our President).  The front page of the "LOCAL" section of today's paper reads . . . NEW APP  BRINGS MURALS, DANCING FIGURES TO LIFE.  I spit out my coffee laughing when I read this one.  The bi-line reads        "West Palm Visitors Can Experience Augmented Reality".   If the way tourists drive down here is any indication I think most of them are already experiencing "Augmented Reality".   To go further in the article it says  "A West Palm Beach agency is making skeletons dance at one of the downtown restaurants.  They have launched a phone-based self-guided tour that uses augmented reality to enliven West Palm Beach's downtown for visitors,"  As if it's not interesting enough?    I CAN NOT wait to see what this is all about!   All I know is that when I had my heart surgery I was seeing the figures, (that did NOT exist) dancing and moving in a painting on the wall of my hospital room.  If West Palm has discovered that by giving the tourists a small purple pill and then sending them out to wander the streets is a profitable venture than I'm all in. 

 Maybe they got the idea from another one of the articles in todays Post which is titled , , , TRUMP SIGNS ORDER ON PSYCHEDELIC DRUG RESEARCH.   (Yes, more Trump!)  At first I thought the article was referring to some of our bazaar folks in Washington DC who come up with some pretty kookie ideas but upon further reading it is actually something really good.  It has been found that people with severe depression, mental illness and PTSD can be helped by using certain experimental drugs.  That is fantastic news for many of our veterans.  Maybe we could also try some of these drugs on some of the most extreme liberals in our government. Watch out AOC !!!

A MEMORIAL TO THE MAN

 March12, 2026    The world has lost another good man this evening. The Man - My Man   passed away around 10:30 tonight.  He was 78 years old and suffered from severe COPD.  It is a wonder he managed to stay alive these past nine and a half years that we were together.  Most of my blogs have been about The Man so you know he was a constant source of "entertainment" for me.  I often wanted to kill him but all in all it was a wonderful decade.  

We met at a birthday party for one of my Florida friends. That was in January of 2017.   The Man happened to be visiting an old Army buddy of his who lived in Florida and knew the birthday boy.  Being the only 2 people at the party without a spouse we started to chat and that was that.  My husband had just been dead a year and The Man's wife had died 3 years past.  God did some good planning that day because The Man and I were meant to be together for so so many reasons.  

The Man had never been on a cruise. I took him on our little Margaritaville cruise that sails from West Palm Beach to the Bahamas where it docks for one night and then sails back.  It's a great way to see if you enjoy cruising.  I will never forget The Man's reaction when we walked into our room on the ship. He stood there looking around and said, "It's not all grey."  The only ship he had ever been on was a Navy cruiser when he went to Vietnam back in the 60's.  He loved the cruise so over the years we sailed to Cuba and then a second cruise to some of the beautiful islands in the Caribbean.  Wonderful memories.

And then there was Alaska !   The Man's son lives in Alaska so every summer dad would drive up to see his son and go moose hunting. ( Moose meat is delicious !).  Now that we were a couple I spent several summers making the 7 day drive from Michigan to Alaska and back.  We went Halibut fishing 6 hours off the coast of Valdez, AK. We panned for gold, spent a weekend at a hotel in Chena Hot Springs where we soaked in almost boiling hot water that came up from underground springs.  We celebrated July 4th Alaska style.  No fireworks because it never gets dark in July so instead you have a big beer party in the back yard and blow up plastic garbage bags filled with propane.  It is much more fun and a lot louder than traditional fireworks.    So many good times in Alaska and such amazing scenery on the drive through Canada to get there.  Between The Man who spent his last 5 years in the Army at a base in Fairbanks and his son we saw places that no tourist has ever been.  

Winters in Florida were always special because The Man could spend all winter outside on the lanai while the farm in Michigan was covered in snow.  I would tease The Man that the only reason he was with me was because I had a condo in Florida and I was with him because of his farm in the UP.  When I met The Man I had never heard of The UP,  Upper Peninsula, of Michigan. I had never seen Lake Superior and its incredible beauty nor had I swum in Lake Michigan which happens to be freezing in the middle of July. I educated The Man in Florida sights, (Of which Donald Trump's Mara Largo was his favorite spot to drive past), and he showed me the heart of the UP.  Talk about different worlds !!!

And now all that is memories.  This winter I spent 4 months at the farm enjoying SNOW !!!  (Everyone up there blames the huge amount of snow that they got on my desire to see snow. I am not invited back in the winter ever again.).  The time I got to spend with The Man this winter was very special.  I think we both knew this was going to be our last time together. His breathing had gotten so much worse, he was often struggling to breathe and he was telling me he was tired and was ready to give up. We took it day by day, brought in Hospice, had helpers coming in 7 days a week but it wasn't enough. The Man had talked about going into an assisted living in town but was never really all in on that plan.  The someone suggested the Veterans Community Care residence that is part of the VA hospital about an hour away from the farm.  That appealed to The Man and within 3 days he was moved in and happy to be there.  It was a big room, laundry service, 3 meals a day delivered to his room, ice cream any time he wanted it and lots and lots of nurses and aids who checked on him all the time.  He was in Heaven.  And I was able to be there for the whole week before I came back to Florida.  I didn't have to worry about him falling at home or having trouble with his oxygen when no one was there to help.  

The day I left him I just knew I would not see him again.  Just a feeling that we both had.  We sat on his bed and talked for a while about what a wonderful time we had being together. We both agreed that God put us together for a reason.  We decided God wanted me to learn patience and he wanted The Man to stop worrying about everything.  We both got an A+  so it was time to graduate to the next step in our lives.  

Dwayne . . . AKA The Man . . .  took his last step tonight.   He will be missed.   I know he is still with me and I spent a while alone tonight talking to him after he was gone.  We will see if he sends me a message to let me know he is OK.  (Husband sent 2 messages after he passed and you can not tell me otherwise). 

Maybe I'll have more time to write now but don't bet on it.  Even without the nightly hour long phone calls I do manage to never have enough time to do everything I want to do.  But I promise to try to do better with my blogs.  I'm sure I can manage to get into plenty of trouble on my own.

Say a prayer for Dwayne . . .   He was a very special guy.  I was blessed to have had him in my life. 

BRAIN FREEZE

 I wish it were just my brain that is freezing but that is not the case.   Every morning when I wake up here on the farm in Michigan the first thing I do is grab my phone and check the weather. I could just look out the window but that can be quite deceiving. Take this morning for instance.  I woke up around 8:30 and looked out the bedroom window.  The Man was already out in the kitchen having his cup of coffee. 

There's a side blog here.  We have small one cup coffee maker that uses pods which are in a basket on the counter by the coffee maker.  All you have to do is put the little pod in the machine, pour water in the back of the machine and push ONE button. ( OK, so you do have to remember to put your coffee cup under the spout but most times we do remember.)  The man comes from the bedroom with his walker, rolls across the kitchen, right past the fridge and over to the counter where the coffee maker is.  He then has to reach into the cabinet right over his head to get a mug.  Reach into the basket to get a coffee pod and turn on the water faucet to get the water to pour into the machine.  He does all this then sits on the walker seat and waits.  Sure enough, two minutes later he has his coffee.  He has always added just a little Half and Half to the black coffee until he decided it was too much work to open the fridge to get out the Half and Half. So now we buy little tiny cups of coffee creamer like the ones that you get in a restaurant.  (That is if you don't have a senior citizen in your group who immediately empties them and the entire supply of sweetener packets into their purse.)  So . . .  the coffee ritual takes no amount of energy or time but The Man has decided it is too exhausting so he will do without his coffee.  STUPID, STUPID ME !   I started putting out his coffee mug, pod, spoon and water so now I am EXPECTED to do this every night.  I forgot one night this past week and someone other than me was in a snit because he had to go through the process all by himself.  GIVE ME A BREAK !!  

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.   I looked out the window to find the sun shining like I haven't seen in months.  Bright sunny day with the sun reflecting off the snow. (OH YES!  We still have lots of snow). Now because the sun was shining I stupidly assumed the day would be warmer than it has been for the. last month or two.  I opened the window as I usually do to let some fresh air in the room before I made the bed. HOLY CRAP !!!  It was FREEZING out there.  No wind, just beautiful sunshine and a temperature of MINUS 17 DEGREES but it felt like MINUS THIRTY THREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I slammed the window shut and went back to bed.  When I got up at 10 it had warmed up nicely.  It was now only MINUS NINE DEGREES.     

Have I mentioned I do NOT "do" cold ???   I moved to Florida for exactly that reason and yet here I am in the arctic.  I do not like this Sam I am !  

I am really ready to return to sunny Florida and leave my boots, gloves, hat, winter coat, scarf, wool socks, flannel pants, fleece jacket under the coat and The Man right here.  Bye Bye Bye !!!

Two more weeks and I'm out of here.  Hopefully not in a snow storm because my flight is at 6:15 AM and if it is snowing I don't think the little plane that takes me to Detroit will be able to fly.  That would be a cruel joke on me but at this point I think I would just start walking.