Observations

[larryJ]

A year or so ago, our washing machine broke down.  As it was a Sears product, we called them for repairs.  The guy came out and fixed it.  During his visit, we mentioned that the gaskets on the refrigerator doors were wearing out and that we would have to call on that also.  He told us to buy the Sears home protection policy for $1100 and any appliance would be fixed free of charge.  Now I thought that was a little pricey just to fix the gaskets, but my better half went for it.  He told us to wait for a few weeks and then call.  We did that and the parts were ordered and sent to the house and a repairman showed up a few days later and fixed them.  Not too long after that, we noticed that the refrigerator wasn't keeping things cold despite the new gaskets.  I discovered that the little button that shuts off the lights in the refrigerator wasn't shutting off the lights when the door was closed.  Those lights get really warm and so the food wasn't staying cold.  We called the repair service and the same guy came out and looked things over and ordered the light assembly.  It took a few weeks to get it.  In the meantime, I took the bulbs out of the light assembly so that the food would stay cold.  The downside to this is you have to pay more attention to what you want out of there.  The new part finally came and the repairman came out to install it.  Unfortunately, the heat had also altered the shape of the top inside of the unit making it impossible to put the new part in.  Our initial thought was, "Oh great!  Now we have to go buy a new one."  However, he informed us because we had that protection policy, a replacement refrigerator would be installed.............free.  FREE!

That said.......after a few days, Sears called and said that our refrigerator was no longer made (it was seven years old), but that a comparable one would be ordered.  They just wanted to know which one we wanted.  We could look at them online.  My wife doesn't look at anything online, preferring to go to the store and looking at them........she calls it being a "hands-on" approach.  So last night after the granddaughters went home, we were off to Sears.  There were probably thirty different models to choose from.  I found the one that was similar to ours and pointed it out to her.  She was off looking at another one that she liked.  I let her and the salesperson discuss things while I moved to a really comfortable chair in front of a big screen. 

So............we had a credit for a certain amount which would have covered the price of the one I found.  She was looking at one that we would have had to pay more for.  However, as it turns out, the really expensive one she was looking at was on sale......this was the last night.....and the sale price dropped it below our credit that we had.  So now we are going to have a nice new bigger and better refrigerator coming in a week or so.  FOR FREE!  Well, except for the $1100 I paid for this protection, but we got our moneys worth.  The problem now is how to get it into the kitchen without tearing down a wall.

Sheesh.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

I just said goodbye to our old washing machine. The city was schedued to pick it up tomorrow, so Al dragged it out to the curb. Within 15 minutes a scrapper came by and asked if they could have it for salvage. And away it went!

[larryJ]

I must be getting old.  I knew several days, even weeks ago, that the time would change on November 3rd.  I was even reminded of it on the news yesterday.  When I woke up this morning (I always get up between 5 and 6), I looked at the clock and it said 5:30.  Okay, I said to myself, time to get up.  I got up and went to the kitchen for my coffee and turned on the computer and noted that the time was 4:40!  This is not just one case of a "senior moment."  In our kitchen there are four different sources of time.......the kitchen stove has a clock, the coffee maker has a clock, the microwave has a clock and there is an under the cabinet radio.....with a clock.  Those four added to the bedroom clock makes a total of five different time sources before I sat down in front of the computer only to discover I was up too early.  But this is a moot point because I got the same amount of sleep that I normally get.  Now some say that when the time changes in the fall, you get an extra hour of sleep.  Since I missed that I guess I get an extra hour of being awake for the day. 

Always in the past, I have changed all the clocks in the house the evening before.  However, in the last few years I have started to just change most, but not all of them.  Yesterday, however, was the first time I didn't change any of them.  I didn't even think about it.  I commented on this to my wife a while ago and she said....and I quote......."Oh yeah!  The time changed!"

Now I don't feel so bad about this.

Larryj

[readyaimduck]

I hear you Larry!  I have my bedroom clock set 40 min ahead.  The other clocks are mostly within 10 min of each other. 

I have always maintained...do NOT let time dictate you.

I got my 8 hours of sleep, refreshed and it was 4:30 am.  Didn't bother me.
When I started going through my day, I needed more time, so I set all the clocks back. 
Voila!   

Now, if I can get myself to stay up one hour past bedtime...I will be in sync!

ready......... to nod off......

[Wilma]

The only one that concerned me was the coffee pot.  I didn't want to have to wait for my cup of hot coffee as soon as I got up.  Besides, what else do I have to do?

[larryJ]

As technology advances, many of us "older" folks make the effort to keep up with it.  Along the way some of us reach a certain saturation level where technology just leaves us behind.  Not that we can't understand it, but that we make a decision at some point that it is just beyond us and we don't see a need to keep up.  I experienced this somewhat yesterday.

I have mentioned somewhere that my son has purchased a condo in the mountains near Lake Arrowhead, some 40 miles to the east of us.  Prior to buying the place he had taken my wife and I there to see it.  As my wife was still in the early stages of recovery from her back operation, it proved to be a difficult trip for her because of the many steps up and down going into the place and then the effort to go up and down all three levels of the condo.  It was also a trial run to see how well I would be able to breathe at that altitude.

Last Thursday my son came up from the beach and swapped his car for my van so that he could move some of their belongings to the condo.  The original plan was for he and I to go up on Friday afternoon and spend the night and do some "fixes" to the place.  However, the weather turned bad and we went up very early yesterday morning.  He was at my house at 6 AM and we drove up.  At the 5,000 foot level we began to see snow on the trees, but the road was clear.  The temperature at that time was just above freezing.  We had to be there early as he had arranged for the cable guy to hook up the TVs and the Internet.  There was an inch or so of snow on the ground when we got there. 

Now for the technology part.  The first thing on his agenda was to change the thermostat to a more modern one which.....get this.......can be controlled remotely.  This means that when he is going to the condo he can use his smart phone and call the thermostat and turn on the heat before arriving so it will be warm inside on arrival.  This was not a problem physically hooking it up to the wires.  Programming it was beyond me. 

Next was to change the lock on the entry door which was no big deal.  Installing a new dead bolt with a programmable key pad on the outside  took a little doing to finally get it right, but we got it done........meaning getting the lock in and working.  Programming it was beyond me.  While it does have a keypad which can be used manually, it is also connected to his smart phone allowing the door to be unlocked when he arrives so that he doesn't have to physically punch buttons to open the door. 

My daughter-in-law arrived later with the kids and while they were unloading the van I sat with my granddaughter and held my grandson.  He is now three months old and cries a lot, but I got him to smile at me. 

Wanting to get off the mountain before dark, I left at 2:30.  Navigating back up the steps caused a shortness of breath that went away after a few minutes.  So I am beginning to think our trips to the condo will be limited.  These are not steep steps for the most part, but it did affect me coming back to the parking lot. 

My son's plan is to have our Thanksgiving there next week, but that will mean spending the night and I am not sure we can handle that.  It depends on the weather.  If it is going to be stormy then we will just have it at our daughter's house as we have done for the past few years.

I was reminded of when my cousin moved to Fort Collins, Colorado.  His father, Uncle "Buck" Snodderley, had a heart condition in later years and going from Howard to Colorado to visit his son just didn't work out for him. 

I guess I have reached my "saturation level" and I will see my son and his family when they come here to visit. 

Getting old is not for the young at heart.

Larryj

[Wilma]

You sure said it there, Larry.  Getting old is not for the young at heart.

[larryJ]

As is our family tradition, Thanksgiving was held yesterday.  We do it on Friday which allows our children to attend their in-laws on the regular day.  We have done this for many years and it works out great.  They get to have two Thanksgiving dinners and there is no excuse for them not to attend ours. 

It did allow me to update my pictures of my grandchildren which has replaced the profile picture.

Larryj

[Wilma]

That is such a nice looking group.  You are one lucky grandfather.

[larryJ]

Thanks, Wilma! 

I have a story to share.  This is one of those human interest things you hear about on TV.  This one is factual and true.

When I moved to California in 1965, I met a woman who I would marry during my stint in the Army.  In December 1966, my mother passed away and I came home from Korea for the funeral which was in Howard.  Nine months later we had a daughter.  She was born about the time my tour was up in Korea.  Because of my belief there had been some indiscretions on her part while I was gone, I sometimes had the feeling that this daughter was not really mine.  Anyway, shortly after my discharge from the Army in 1967, we divorced.  Later on, arrangements were made for my wife's next husband to adopt this daughter which made me believe that he really was her father.  Long story shorter, I never had contact with them after 1969.  A few years later I remarried and we had two children.  I never hid the fact from my wife or my children that I had been married before and that I had a daughter from that marriage.  Sometimes I would try to keep tabs on them, quietly, not wishing to have re-establish any contact.  I discovered where they lived, that they had divorced and I saw a yearbook picture of my daughter when she was a senior in high school. 

My daughter from my current marriage has often thought she would like to meet this half-sister and had tried a few times to find her.  Well, she did in August this year.  Initial contacts were between the two girls and I was kept informed.  Finally, I decided to e-mail her directly.  We established that she could possibly be my daughter and she asked me to do a DNA test.  We did that and it came back that I was definitely her father.  We exchange e-mails almost daily talking about our current families and daily activities.  Once the DNA test came back, I suggested that we meet and she was okay with that.

Yesterday, my daughter and I drove to the Legion in Newport and met her.  Here is a woman who never knew I existed.  She never knew that her mother was married before.  Her younger brother is now her half-brother.  She had cut off all contact from the man she knew as her father as he was abusive to her mother although not to the children.  We had a very pleasant lunch and spent the whole day together.  I was impressed with her and I hope she felt the same.  I am looking forward to more meetings with her.  For the time being, we are keeping this from her mother as she was visibly upset when all this first started.  She has been told that nothing came of it.  She may decide that further contact with me is not necessary although I got the impression yesterday that she would like to keep in touch with me. 

She has two children that are now my grandchildren.  Because this is just getting started there are no plans to meet them mostly because we don't want them to blab to grandma about their "new" grandfather.

Interesting day yesterday.

Larryj