Chirping Smoke Detector

At least the chirps did not start in the middle of the night! The smoke detector in the entrance hall beeped once last night, but I thought I had dragged my sneaker on the wooden floor. When it happened again this morning, I knew I had to find which one was complaining. Soon it beeped regularly, and I called on neighbor Jeff to change it. He rescued me last fall, then Lise’s friend Toke took care of the other five when they came to visit. There is no way that battery should have failed this quickly.

Jeff responded to my text and was here within minutes. He is such a smart fixer, coming prepared with a voltage meter. Checking the battery, he found it did not have enough charge to function properly. We both assumed my new battery was fine, but it chirped just as he stepped down to the floor. What?? He flipped it out, checked its voltage, and put it in again. This time it stayed blessedly quiet.

What do people do who don’t have wonderful neighbors to call on??? If I were 50 years younger and bought a house, I think I’d look for a course that would teach me how to do basic repairs myself. These days, perhaps there are videos to watch.

“Hush, Anne! You have no business climbing on a ladder. You’d do better falling over yourself thanking your rescuer.”

And Anne lived happily ever after, knowing she should call for help instead of trying to be independent.

Guessed Right!

I don’t consider myself watchful, but I drew the right conclusion about neighbor Cindy. Days ago I didn’t realize she was going to see her grandchildren until we were texting. She mentioned she had to go because her flight was boarding. Fast forward a while. I’m not time-aware, but it seemed she had been gone long enough. Her house appeared normal as I passed. Jim’s truck was gone early, as usual, and that’s when I wondered if it was time for Cindy to be home. Turning around, I passed the house and got my answer. The dogs were let out in the fenced yard. They wouldn’t have let themselves out!

After I got home, she replied to my text of discovery, saying she got home the night before!! She had had a wonderful time, but was also glad to be home. Most people can identify with that. I’m glad she is back, making my neighborhood complete again.

A People Day

A day filled with people is a red-letter day for me. Marilynne and Vaughn took me to the mid-week service last week and repeated the offer this week. They go within a mile of my house on the way to Asheville. Grandson Nathaniel and fiancée Sarah let me know they were heading to Asheville and would like to see me. Putting all these people in the same equation seemed to work out well.

I rode to church with Marilynne and Vaughn, greatly enjoying conversation on the way. Marilynne sat next to me in church, singing alto and lowered soprano with my higher notes. That is so much fun for me. On the verse closest to the bass clef, I switched to tenor because I could see notes and words together. I’m always glad if there are no people just ahead of me, because that could be annoying to them. I don’t need people to HEAR me, just let me sing. After the service, we chatted with the musicians, Heather and Lula, plus the tech guy Peter.

I sat under the roof of the entrance to wait for Sarah and Nathaniel to pick me up. They had been to the wedding venue to measure things for their upcoming wedding. We ate at a barbecue place, one they were checking out for recommending to guests. I chose sliders, never having had pork that way. There was one great advantage to having smaller sandwiches. The meat didn’t fall out as it would have from one huge sandwich.

The young couple kidnapped me on the way to my house, going to a favorite antique mall that Nate and I used to frequent. I kept my eye open for a small cast iron skillet and small plates. The skillets were too expensive, the earrings too dangly, and the plates too formal. I had a delightful time, though, wandering around and sharing comments with the others. They bought a birthday gift for a relative.

We went to my house and chatted for a long time. How satisfying! I enjoy their talk that includes so many things I’ve never been involved with. Their conversation is very active, whereas mine tends to be reflective and low key. My day with people was soul-satisfying.

The St. Patrick’s Day balloon photo-bombed this shot.

St. Patrick’s Day

When I was ready to begin the public part of my day, I took a selfie to show my new tee shirt. It says, “Not Lucky, Just Blessed.” Only one person saw it on me, because the day was not warm. I was wearing a sweater and a windbreaker over it.

This was errand day. Since there is no public garbage pickup out in the country, I took my week’s trash to the garbage center in town. It’s wonderful that it’s on the edge of town, so I didn’t have to share space with it while shopping. I had a notice that my library card was about to expire, and I had to go in person to renew it. The place hadn’t changed since the last time I was there, probably three or four years ago. I struggle to read large print books and use the card solely for checking out ebooks.

Next, I took the tax papers to the man who does my taxes. What a relief that was! There is always one form that is late, and I worry that he will have tons of people ahead of me that will push my returns beyond the deadline.

The last stop was my favorite supermarket, Ingles. One of the store employees was hurrying by, but she stopped in her tracks. She exclaimed, “I have to look at your earrings!” (Shamrocks) That gave me time to notice that she was wearing glittery green things over her store uniform. My holiday clothing was not visible, but she focused on the earrings. I celebrated by buying a green helium balloon that said, “Happy St. Patrick’s Day.”

Although the wind was chilly, neighbor Joyce and I sat in the sun on my front porch. I treasure times like that spent with my favorite locals. She brought me a bouquet of fragrant flowers from her garden that made my kitchen sparkle.

A Retirement Answer

I was out with friends, and we were laughing at ourselves. We had expected to do many things when we retired, but we found the days disappearing without many accomplishments. Thinking about it a bit more, I realized I had done a lot that day. I put the clothes in the washing machine before walking a mile, and the laundry was done when I had showered and eaten breakfast. Before getting in their car at 11:15, I had read the devotion for the day, worked five different puzzles on line, read and replied to email and blog posts, filled two humidifiers, and put the clean clothes away. Why was I not that productive all the time?

For me the answer includes deadlines and habits. The first deadline of the day was leaving for work on time. Habits made everything go smoothly. I knew how much time it took to drive to the village to walk. No thought was involved in showering and dressing. Breakfast was the cushion. I ate leisurely or quickly, depending on variations of habits. In those days I washed my hair every day, but I don’t need to now.

I still have many of the same habits, but I let my mind wander. I can look down at my soapy arm and wonder for a second what is next. Well, if it’s the right arm, the left is next. Sometimes I get lost while brushing my teeth. Noticing where the brush is, I know what is next, because I always do them in the same order. It’s outside upper right, lower right, without changing the handle, inside upper left, and lower left. Change direction of brush to outside upper right, lower right, then inside upper left and lower left. If I had to think through that every morning, I’d never get a thing done! Paying attention is the key to speed. I rarely need speed these days.

After getting to work, there were routines and habits that kept things going smoothly, for the most part. The same was true for the evening. Now, though, anything goes! I wander through my days at a leisurely pace. If I had flowers, I might stop to smell them, but I’m more likely to get involved in writing and chatting on line. If I haven’t dawdled, I play the piano and sing a little. That is a bit taxing though, because my mind has to make up the notes the eyes can’t see. Meal prep is easy – anything goes. I never whine and say, “I don’t like that.”

The choice is mine, whether to push through a chore or amble through it. I COULD be efficient if I chose to be, because I still have some deadlines and most of my habits.

Shopping from Memory

I nearly always read the grocery shopping list before leaving home, and it stood me in good stead this week. I know I took the list, but I figured it dropped out of my pocket in the parking lot. Retracing my steps, I did not find any list. Time to wing it!

Two days later I have not missed anything vital, nor have I remembered anything else on the list. In this game of chance, I think I won.

Charge!!

My car battery died when I was going to an appointment, but I was concentrating on getting there and didn’t go into a long-lasting panic. A couple of days later, neighbor Bob brought his charger over and made it look simple to plug in and hook up. I saw him start the car easily after the charger had run for a couple of hours. The next day he suggested I start it again. Nothing happened when I turned the key. Rats! I’ve babied a battery before, but I’ve never had one die so quickly and thoroughly!

I checked out the nearest auto parts store, thinking that is where Bob would go for a battery. He had a better place in mind, one where he recently got a battery for his truck. The first thing I noticed as I pulled into the bay was that everything was spotless and well-organized. It seemed like just seconds passed as a man removed the old battery and began putting in the new one. I was directed to the office to pay, and when I walked back, the car was ready to go. Impressive!

I hadn’t noticed how dirty the car was until I saw the windshield from the inside. Bob explained that there had been a dust storm west of here, and our last rain picked up that dust to spread all over our cars. Instead of driving straight home, he went to the next town and went through a small car wash. When I thanked him for doing that, he said, “This will look better from my dining table than a dirty old car.”

Where else in one afternoon would you get a car that acted like a puppy and looked brand new? I got a charge out of that!

Let’s Face It!

My face could have been red BEFORE the dermatologist exposed me to blue light. I left the house right on time for the appointment, and the car wouldn’t start!! If I were normal, my blood pressure would have shot up, making my face red. Neighbor Shawn saved the day by driving me there and picking me up. Words could not express how grateful I was.

My face procedure was a neighborhood event. Joyce was involved because she loaned me a wide-brimmed hat that was required. On the way home, Shawn said she’d take a photo of me with the hat, which she did.

Post procedure, Day 1. The next morning I put on sunscreen before going out to walk. I was told to protect my face carefully for the next three weeks. Who knew it would blow up, literally on my face? All was well until I turned at the stop sign to go home. The sun hit me head on, and my face began to burn. I was on fire! I wondered if it was the salt water from a leaky eye running down my face. The water ran, not the eye. Shawn’s assessment was that the sunscreen was old. Daughter Lise will tell me, “That’s what you get for keeping out-if-date items.” In my defense, I looked for an expiration date and couldn’t find one. I found two other tubes with dates and promptly threw them in the wastebasket.

Post procedure, Day 2. Because my car wouldn’t start, I couldn’t drive to buy new sunscreen. I went out to walk half an hour earlier than usual and wrapped shade around my face. That was unnecessary, because the sun didn’t shine!! Sunrise was officially at 6:54, and I was home at 8:22. Cloud cover hid the sun entirely. I wouldn’t mind just hibernating, but I will have to go out eventually.

What Wind?

Weather forecasters were working overtime to instill fear about high winds coming to the area. They did make a distinction with altitude, saying the wind would be much stronger above 3,500 feet. The words were sobering about trees limbs coming down, power outages, and stability of high vehicles. It was to last from 7:00 pm until 1:00 pm the following day. I’m sure I would have heard the wind before I went to bed before midnight. I heard nothing alarming. The power went off during the night, which I knew about because I could see a clock blinking. I woke at the usual time, still not aware of wind.

Two who were aware of wind were neighbor Joyce and daughter Lise. Joyce said she didn’t sleep well because of the noise. Although Lise was 4,443 miles away in Denmark (Life360), she texted me about the weather. She saw a lot of posts about how strong the wind was all through the night. She wanted to know was it bad for me?

I noticed nothing unusual until I crossed the front porch, going out for the morning walk. Rain water had blown a few feet in from the edge. By this time the sky was clear, and the sun was about to come up. There was no wind to speak of, and only a few small limbs were on the road between my house and the stop sign.

As I turned into my street, almost home, the wind hit me in the face. It died down almost immediately. Here is a video of the daffodils in a neighbor’s yard.

Manage patterns

Snowboarding on the Map

For at least a year I’ve had the app Life360 on my phone. What fun it has been! My daughters were all for it, because when they put it on their phones, they could tell whenever I left the house. They were also comfortable that I could look at their movements outside. As long as I have my phone in my pocket, they can look at a map showing me walking to the stop sign. Today I looked at my trip to town yesterday and saw my top speed was 55 miles an hour, which happens to be the speed limit for the road I was on.

One day I looked at niece Chrissie’s map and saw zig-zagging lines. I figured she was snowboarding down the mountain. She affirmed that she had been on the slopes that morning. One of these days I hope to see the map live as she is flying down the steep slope.