So, yesterday was the first day in a while when the weather wasn’t really, really sucky. It was actually sunny, not hot, and not humid. I celebrated by sitting in my windowless office all day (I did manage to get in a 10 minute walk across a couple parking lots to go look at some trees and the vestiges of the old Erie Canal, which is right by where I work. More accurately, I work next to what’s called Wide Waters, which are widened out areas they had every so often along the canal.
They used these areas to turn the boats around (at least, that’s the notion I have in my brain). I’m not really sure when or where I got that information (for all I know, it isn’t even true, but, as Stephen Colbert used to say, it sounds like it should be), other than to say that Erie Canal lore is one of the three things you most definitely learn about if you grow up around here – the other two being the glaciers, and the Iroquois (as we called them back in my day) or more specifically the Onondagas.
Anyhow, that was about it seeing daylight during working hours yesterday. By the time I got home, about all I did was fix the spring on the gate by the pool and then hang out with the dogs for a bit. I really haven’t been feeling well lately, and that was about all I managed before going to bed early (well, that and fiddle about with some teevee-related software). Oh, and I watched the latest episode or iZombie, which has become a guilty little pleasure of mine. It’s the kind of stupid, mindless diversion that comes in handy when you’ve quit drinking beer and your life now has a huge void.
I used to love sitting out by the pool, drinking beer and reading my Kindle. Used to be I thought it was because I enjoyed being outside and I liked reading. Turns out, I was really only in it for the beer, and bugs are really annoying when you’re sober.
Go figure.
On the bright side, my new little baby air conditioner was delivered yesterday. Even in the box, it looks tiny. I can hardly wait to get it installed. I guess.
I originally wanted to keep the install simple and just stick the thing in my window. Of course, I have crank out casement windows, so I can’t do that easily (god forbid anything should be simple). So I was planning on taking one of the windows out and cobbling some sort of seasonal installation fuster cluck. Then I thought maybe I should make it a permanent installation. But I have a really nice view out the window, and hate to lost half of that, so then I was thinking that I’d need to use clear Lexan™. But this is a west-facing window, and as hot as it gets on summer afternoon, it gets about a hundred times colder in the winter (the wind blows from the west all day, every day, all winter – aka, November to May – long).
So then I thought I’d just stick it through the wall, though that would mean either taking down the fake Monet watercolor, or the Picasso print that are next to the window. Then it dawned on me that one of my walls is actually (mostly) an outside wall by the front porch. So I thought maybe I’d put the a/c through the wall there. Then I thought, hell, if I have to put a hole in the wall anyway, maybe I should just put in a double hung window that I can stick the a/c in for a few months of the year, and get not only a cross-breeze but a view of my front yard and up the driveway so I can see UPS and FedEx when they sneak in.
So that’s where I’m at. Goodness knows when I’ll actually get this in. I mean, I still need to do fence repair, paint the house, and do everything else that I have on my list that probably will never get done before I die.
Not the way I’ve been feeling lately, anyway.
Oh well, at least it’s Thursday, which isn’t Friday, but it’s the next best thing.
For our Giants fans (NY and San Fran alike). Monte and Willie at the White House.
And back in the day.
Very nice photo and composition, pj. I’d like to save a copy, if you don’t mind.
So I know others here have dealt with aging parents and I, now, am experiencing the same. Thank heaven I have siblings and we are all sharing the load. Things are really tough at the moment and it just sucks. I know I’m lucky to have had the old folks so long, but it really is not making it easier.
Good luck. There’s nothing much to say other than it sucks. Glad you don’t have to go through it all alone.
It is very difficult. At least in NYC there were few really helpful services. My mother didn’t see a doctor for years. Fortunately the doc she had been seeing refilled her prescriptions though at first he gave me a hard time because he wanted to see her but would not come to the house. I was able to hire some very good people to care for her round the clock but it was not cheap. I’m told nursing homes end up costing more and that they put leins on houses and other assets.
But, the real difficulty was that I was responsible for keeping her household going as well as my own and I always needed to be nearby.
I have done the NY Times crossword puzzle every day for at least 40 years but during the time that my mother was bedridden I seldom got a chance not only because I did a lot of running around but when I had some down time I was too tired to think.