GETTING OLD

 I'm tired !   I am looking forward to escaping to the quiet of the UP where I do not have to be "on call" for anyone.   I LOVE my friends and family but I also love being away from them for a time so I can recharge and focus on doing NOTHING !!

I must be getting old.  A retirement home where I can be fed and taken care of is sounding better by the day.  I know I always say that age is just a number but this birthday has me totally rattled.  In 4 days I will be one year away from turning 80 !   How the hell did that happen ????  Every time I read about an auto accident where the driver was (GASP!) 76 years old so of course they got in an accident,  "How dare those old people be driving!"  In a week The Man and I will be driving SIXTEEN HUNDRED MILES to spend the summer in northern Michigan.  I told that to one of my doctors the other day and he was shocked that we drive ALL that way "BY OURSELVES!!!!"  (As if I am four and want to cross the street by myself.  It was only the hand doctor who gives me shots for my arthritic hands who said this, not my GP, Cardiologist or shrink.  What does a hand doctor know?). 

I am beginning to think I really AM getting old.  A fact that I have not considered in the past 79 years. But this big Eight-Oh that is looming on the horizon does have me thinking about my mortality.

 AND I DON'T LIKE IT ONE BIT !

And so when The Man behaves like an idiot I do not have the patience to keep from smacking him up side his head.   Take today for instance.  For what ever reason the men in my life do not like going to the barber shop.  Husband HATED going because he didn't like people touching him, especially his head. (Don't ask)  The Man is just "lazy" which I really can't blame him with the oxygen situation but I need some time away from him, even a simple trip to the barber.  Instead The Man has decided that I do a fairly good job of cutting his hair,  He chose the type of hair clippers we should buy and he paid for them.  I guess that makes it OK for him to micromanage every hair that I cut on his head. (And there aren't many)  You would think that a person who is at the mercy of a lunatic holding scissors would have more sense than to be giving instructions as I cut his hair.  

We always do our Barber Shop out on the lanai so it is easier to clean up. The man sits in one of the high-top chairs and I get to cut his hair.  It is at this point that The Man starts giving me instructions on HOW to cut his hair.  "Hold the scissor this way",  "Don't cut too much",  "Be sure to get the little hairs on my neck".  But the newest and best instruction that I got this time was, "You should hold my ear down when you cut around it".   DUH,  DUH. and DUH !!!!!  This is not our first hair cut and those are not new ears that I have never had to cut around before.  Not only did he tell me to hold down his ear he reached up and was going to hold his ear down himself.   Little did he realize he could have not only lost an ear but he could now also loose a couple of fingers.   I slapped his hand !!  Well . . .  not really.  I WANTED to slap his hand and his head but instead I just took his hand and placed it in his lap.  I think he got the message.

Now adding to all the normal every day stuff that he manages to annoy me with we now have the added stress of packing.  It is time to pack up the car and make the drive to Michigan. The man started packing a month ago and has now spent that month asking me where he put things.  If I hear one more dissertation on HOW he is packing his . . .  medicine, underwear, Bi-pap supplies, (of which there are hundreds), shirts and shoes.  It is not like he only has 3 shirts that he must bring back and forth, the man has more clothes in Michigan than I have ever had in my entire life.  If you have a full wardrobe in both places that you live why do you have 3 suitcases ?????   If I have to hear all about just how he is packing the socks first and then the underwear will go next and so on and so on and so on.  Meanwhile I am responsible for packing up the entire house with things we need for traveling. Empty the fridge, empty and turn off the freezer and clean it out once it defrosts. take my car up to Hobe Sound where it will stay for the summer at my friend Jeannes condo that has covered carports, go to the bank so we have travel money and on and on and on.

The craziest packing of The Man's crap was this afternoon when I walked into the bedroom and he told me  very proudly, that he had just packed up his heart monitor.  The man has a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted in his chest.  He has a machine next to the bed that monitors if there are any irregularities with his heart.  It automatically calls 911 should the need arise.  But if the machine is packed in the car then what happens over the next week if something is going on with his heart ?   Apparently that is not a concern for him.   When he told me what he had just packed I responded with one word,  "ALREADY?"  To which I go a lengthy explanation of how he has to pick things now because it will be too much to do last minute.   Packing your underwear 3 days in advance of your departure is one thing but your heart monitor is quite another thing.    

I said NOTHING !

And that is another sign that I am getting old.  I don't bother to argue. It takes way too much energy!

IT FEELS A LITTLE WARM ?

 O M G !!!!!   It is HOT !  Not that it is unusual for it to be hot it South Florida but it should be cool INSIDE my house.   It is NOT !   

It seems that, these days,  I am having issues with things that are hot.  For starters my laptop is overheating.  When I plug it in it gets SO hot that I have to put a pillow on my lap to keep from burning my legs.  I am guessing it has something to do with the battery but I am not ready to deal with that just now.  Hopefully the great computer fixer guy that I found in MI last year will take care of all that for me once we get back to the farm.       . The other day I was starting a blog while sitting on the lanai and I had to stop to do something.  I left the  plugged in computer sitting on the sofa on the lanai while I went to do whatever. A few minutes later I came out and asked The Man to feel the bottom of the computer to see if it was hot.  He lifted it up off the couch, held it in his hands, turned it over a few times and said, "Well, it not hot, just a little warm."  After which he put the computer back down and went inside.  Not two minutes later I returned outside, picked up the computer and almost got third degree burns from the bottom of laptop. It was HOT !!!  But according to The Man it was only a little warm.  

Yesterday our Air conditioner stopped working.  I woke up in the morning with the house being 76 degrees.  I turn it down to 74 at night, (that is the lowest The Man can tolerate under his 42 blankets pulled over his head) I'm usually comfortable with just a sheet because 74 is still too warm for me to sleep. Thank goodness for ceiling fans !   So here we are with the temperature going up to 80 and we have no AC.  The Man was loving it !  I opened all the windows/doors to catch the morning cool air and turned on all the ceiling fans.  By 10:00 AM I had to close all the windows/doors and shut the curtains and blinds with hopes of the house staying "cool". The Man was in Heaven! I spent the day outside sitting under the fan on the lanai.  When I would go into the house forth whatever the "heat" inside hit me like a brick wall. And yet there in front of the TV sat "You Know Who" happy as a clam. When I asked if he was hot he of course said "NO . . .  It feels fine in here."  I checked the thermostat and it read 82 degrees.  So I left him there in is own personal sauna.  We slept with a portable unit in our bedroom that our land lady brought over and The Man complained all night at how COLD it was.   

Fast forward to this morning.  The AC guys showed up around 9:30,  The Man and I left to go to a doctor and when we returned at 1:30 the guys were just finishing up.  The house was cool and I was happy. The man went to bed for a nap under a blanket.  All was well with the world until tonight when I came in from the lanai to take a shower and get ready to relax and watch some TV.  The minute I walked in the door I knew the AC was not working.  Sure enough the thermostat was set for 77 for The Man's comfort but the house was actually at a steamy 84 degrees.  I asked The Man if he realized the AC was not working and it was 84 degrees in there. His answer . . ."Well now that you mention it it does feel a LITTLE warm." 

A LITTLE WARM ???????????????  We are one step this side of Dante's Inferno and The Man thinks it is a little warm!   I suppose if the house were on fire he wouldn't realize it until the TV blew up in the flames.

It is now after nine at night but I sent a quick text to the AC guy saying the unit was not working. I did NOT expect him to come over I just wanted to let him know that there was a problem.  He called right back from a local restaurant where he was having dinner with his parents. He said he would be over in a few minutes. I told him absolutely not, it could wait but he insisted and will be arriving any minute now. MAYBE . . . 

In the mean time The Man is taking his shower and crawling into bed under his 42 blankets because even though the AC is not working and the house is now up to a toasty 85 degrees The Man is cold.

But I will say     The AC guy IS HOT !!!!!