Is this weird?

This question is not for my daughter to answer because I know what she is thinking from the eye roll and sigh as she headed upstairs to her room when I asked.

I'm always thinking of ways to save money. Usually it involves little things like cheap toilet paper (heh, it was on sale and I was the only one at the store so I bought it) or the Job Lot coupons that I look forward to every week. They allow me to buy things that I may need like a tarp to cover the firewood or cheap shampoo that only I use or the most disgusting pasta sauce ever made. But i still look every Thursday for the Internet coupons thinking that I am saving money.

My latest and certainly not last attempt to salvage what is left of my weekly meager paycheck for more important things, is the use or I guess you would call it reuse of coffee cups. I'm not talking the real ones that you get as gifts that can be washed in the dishwasher. My favorite being "You'll shoot your eye out kid" cup that I got from my daughter. I'm talking about the paper or cardboard ones that you get from the local coffee shops that are meant to be used once then thrown away or should I say recycled.

I have started to save them and reuse them. They have become my coffee travel mug of choice.

First you have to wash them, obviously. I do this by running both the cup and the lid under hot or luke warm water just to get rid of the residue from the last shot of java. Then they must be air dried preferably in a rack that allows the air to circulate around the whole cup and lid. This process usually takes a day depending on humid, local temperature and other weather conditions. Is all of this worth it? Who knows. I haven't gotten sick yet from doing it and I'm not sure how many times they can be reused before the cup is reduced to a pile wet moldy cardboard.  Do this save any money? Couldn't I just get a reusable travel mug? Am I demonstrating the beginning signs of a hoarder?  Check me later and if I have hundreds of them drying on the porch in the summer sun in a few months then maybe you will have your answer. Until then I will continue to experiment with this an other behaviors that will hopefully save a few pennies but will I know seem odd to some but to me are behaviors that help me question my sanity daily. 

An Old Dog

He is slow to get up from his resting place, a warm worn out pillow that he calls home most of the day. His feet are wobbling under the weight of his withering body. His fur is more grey than black in many places. His eyes water and as he yawns and stretches for what seems like an eternity. Finally he is moving toward the open door as I wait there with his leash in hand. We walk out into the late afternoon sun just him and I today. The young pup, who is usually with us, is off with his mom, my daughter, today. So instead of struggling with a puppy running around my legs I am able to give all of my attention to the "old man" as I call him.

I give him a lift into the back of the SUV because he can't jump like he used to. He growls as if to say " I don't need your damm help to get in the car,..... put me down!"  He wont lie down in the back of the car as we wind our way thru traffic. I hear him skidding in the back as he tries to steady himself while I make a quick stop at a red light.

We get to our local trail in the nearby woods and as he jumps out of the back I grab his leash so that wont take off in the wrong direction. It has been awhile since he as been able to out run even me anywhere but he still has a stubborn independent streak and at the beginning of our walks tends to want to go his own way. Nowhere is this more evident than as we start down the trail. He takes for ever to get going, walking, stopping,sniffing, walking and more sniffing. Finally we are moving in semi straight direction. Normally the puppy being full of pent up energy is running far down the trail as we both leave the old man behind. But today it is just him and I and the walk becomes more of meandering stroll,stopping and starting every few feet to check every bush and rock on the trail. I begin to pick up the pace hopping that he will eventually catch up and before I can turn around to check his progress a grey and white blur passes almost between my legs nearly knocking me into the weeds. He is running now at a full sprint. His legs stretching out like great athlete in Olympic race heading down the track towards a gold medal . He runs with a grace that suggests a much younger dog. But it doesn't last as he slows to a trot and then to what looks like a labored walk. Soon we are heading back both of us with aches and pains. Neither of us able to go as far we once did. Both feeling all of the affects of age. But here we are together enjoying the warmth of the sun as it sets through the leafless trees. Walking together in step as we have done for many years and many miles. Today it feels good to have each other's company , two old men spending time on the trail.           

The Woods

I try to walk every day in the woods. These days it is because I have two dogs and they need exercise as much as I do. But I have noticed that it has become the chore that I thought it would be. I have experienced a joy of being outside that I missed while working many years in the bowels of the State House. I used to take long walks on Sunday mornings in the winter with Toby our 17 year old lab/retriever. Now i go out everyday that I'm not working for a morning walk at various places in the nearby woods. I vary the places from day to day. I never plan where I am going to go. Every place has its differences. Some like Bellville pond have winding paths that the dogs love to run on. Then there is Rome point that offers great views of the bay and places for the dogs to swim. Then sometimes we go to Ryan park which is used by horses and dog walkers alike. It offers a wide open path with open fields full of deer and things that the dogs love to chase. Each place is different.

I notice that it has become my place to think. relax and breath. I enjoy the sun,rain,snow every season has its pleasures. Sometimes you meet people and talk other times it is good to be alone. I wish everyone could experience something like this to give them some peace in there busy lives.   

Win-Win

I hear this expression often these days to describe a situation in which both sides of confrontation or disagreement seem to benefit. I understand the intent but when I was a kid we used to play basketball on court with a basket that had been hit by a plow and was now at an odd angle yet still had a hoop attached. We would clear the court of snow in the middle of winter to play games on a half frozen surface with tilted backboard to WIN games. We kept score because that is what you do in sports...you try to beat the other guy and WIN. Guess what...when you win he would LOSE. It was fun to win and hard to lose. I learned a great deal playing those games...I learned about friendship,sacrifice for the team and things like hard work can be fun.   I learned how to WIN. I also learned that you don't always win in life and its what you learn when you lose that can be the best lesson.

Now winning isn't everything and as I get older my need to win in every situation as turned to enjoying the game more than the score. Now I'm still a competitor and I like to beat the next guy when I have to but not every situation is competition. I guess that is what people say when the use the expression win-win. There are times when compromise works best for everyone. But please can somebody come up with something else to call it and leave the winning and losing to the rest of life

Scary Staircase

I am developing a new habit. I noticed that I have become more cautious as I walk down the stairs inside my house lately. I have a set of spiral staircases that lead to the upstairs bedrooms and I am becoming more careful as I descend them especially if I have something in my hand at the time. Also I have begun making small piles of things on the stairs. I do this so that I cut down on the amount of times that I have to use these suddenly daunting stairs.I guess it will only be a matter of time before I say goodbye to everything on the second floor. I guess I could always put in an elevator. 

A new job

     I may have hinted in past posts that I have recently retired and started down a new path in my life.
I worked for 28 years at one profession starting at the bottom until at the end I was in charge.
But as with everything all good things must come to an end and it was time to leave. I was in a very technical feild and paid a good salary. I use to say that if  we made a mistake it wasnt going to hurt anybody or changee their life.

     Well I have moved on and it feels good to try something different. To have a different schedule and in my case to pursue something that feeds a different part of who I am. Iam lucky that I am finacially able to do this but I have also given up a lot of what I had before and I have found that I dont miss much of what I gave up except of course HBO...I do wish I had HBO back...oh well.

     Now I'm working part time a senior living facility and I drive the residents to doctors appointments,shopping and sometimes just out for a ride. I am paid a small percentage of what I made before retiring yet my responsiblilty in real terms is greater. I literaly have people's lives in my hands every day. I do enjoy the human interaction. Seeing these people who are a bit older and physically challenged as real people. I try to see what they were like as younger people and what their lives and the world was like when they were young. I find every day fascinating and with their help I learn something new each day. And at this time in my life I wasnt entirely sure that was possible.Re

     I open my email this morning and I have received an invitation to obtain, for free, my new wheels.
By wheels I mean my new Power Scooter. Yeaaa...no more walking, running,hiking, biking or any of those things that most "young" people do with their feet. I'm mobile. I can sit my way thru the rest of my life. At least it has a motor so I wont have to rely on others to push me around. Those are the benefits.
     Now the drawbacks of obtaining this email. Somewhere there is a data base that says that I am a possible customer if not now then someday and they may be right. I work now with a lot of people who need help getting around and I'm sure that they scoffed ,like me ,at the thought of ever needing help getting around as they got older. It usually sneaks up on you, age that is, or at least the less appealing side effects of growing older.
    I think a lot about getting older now and seeing people a bit older than makes me think of what I might become. It also makes me think about what some of these people where like when they were younger. They weren't born this way. They were young and vibrant once. Most of them have broken down bodies but minds that are still young. Most have no regrets and understand that this is how life works. If we are lucky we have a beginning a middle and an end. If we are one of the lucky ones. 

My first Blog

As I begin blogging I wonder what I will write about. I will probably stick to topics concerning me being over sixty. I have made some observations since turning sixty and they include the usual aches and  pains but also I have observed many other things which may be of interest to only me but we shall see.

 Eyes

 I am typing this with eyes so dilated that a cloudy day looks to me like I'm typing on the surface of the sun. I recently saw some flashes in the corner of my eye and of course I think I;m fine since they disappear in about an hour but my wife begins looking up the symptoms on the Internet only to find out that I am about to go blind any minute. So I head to the doctor who tells me I;m not going to need a seeing eye dog soon but could use some expensive glasses now that I'm driving older people than me around and I don't want to go hitting anything that I cant see.