I bailed out of aqua yoga. The instructor, I don't think, has ever been in the water. I'm sure his instruction is great if you are 1. on land and 2. really into yoga. I am not on land and I want to stretch, not breathe. The stuff he has us do mostly works meh in water. He does not use the water at all so mainly we fight to stay and not float away. And also the 45 minutes are spent 15 minutes moving slowly and 30 minutes stationary and just breathing. The water is warm unless you are just standing there breathing and then it gets cold fast.

So. Yesterday was my last class. I will spend 30 minutes swimming laps on Sunday mornings instead.

Volleyball was also kind of meh today. One of our best players is hooked to a heart monitor for the next week and a half so can't play. The asshole was there today being very assholey. But, it's over and I didn't say anything I wanted to so I'm glad of that. My lips are getting better at staying zipped.

Watching the Phillies play the Mariners was really weird. Kind of like when you catch an NPR person talking on TV. The sound is right and the lips are moving in sync but my brain just can't handle it. The Phillies ate up the Mariners and then spit them out. Because of MLB blackout, I could not listen to the Phillies broadcasters so I'm listening to the idiot Mariners guys who are clearly rooting for the wrong team. It was beyond weird. There are two more games and then everyone goes back into their assigned corners. They will probably meet again in a few years but not before.

Today is house cleaner day and so errand day.

John's still dying. Joan is in bad shape but not dying and, I think, pretty pissed at John for stealing all the attention. Hazel is holding up kind of. She's getting a lot of attention from a wide variety of people and she's trying to keep everyone happy. Including John. It's kind of a mess.

Oh wait. Breaking news! Hazel just came in and sat for a chat. Her son has been working with exactly the right people here at Timber Ridge (which I had hoped was the case but didn't know) and they have a room in the nursing wing for John to move into tomorrow. This is perfect. This is exactly the way things should work around here and usually don't. But this time. Hazel does not have to do a thing except walk over there to visit. He'll even be on this very floor.

She said that the doctors told the both of them that they don't know if John has a day, a week or a year. But now he'll be comfortable and she'll be able to be with him whenever she wants on her own. I am very relieved. And so is she.

Oh and now I'm getting sucked back into aqua yoga. Maybe. I sent a note explaining why I was quitting and now Erica (the fitness person) is asking 'if we do xxx' would you reconsider. Sure.

As always, stay tuned!

But now it's nearly 10 and I'm not dressed yet!

Yesterday, at elbow coffee, Ingrid showed up for a while. She comes late, complains about the latest Timber Ridge insult, and then leaves early. She once screamed at me, during elbow coffee, because I did not check on her when we had an alarm go off. "You are my neighbor! You are supposed to look out for me!!" It was ridiculous. Yesterday, her complaint was that every time she forgets to open her door, Timber Ridge calls "or worse yet, comes to my door". This is a horrible thing to her. She has now lived here more than 5 years and this has been going on every single day for those 5 years but I guess, yesterday, she couldn't conjure up any new offenses.

Others tried to jump in with solutions (which she did not want) and I just kept my lips zipped. Finally she finished ranting and left.

Joan called last night clearly looking for me to say 'if you need anything, let me know' but, aha! I have successfully wiped that phrase out of my playbook. I listened and ummed and aha'd at appropriate places and then said goodbye.

Yesterday, Jim (across the hall - not the Jim of Jim and Gail) came out while I was puzzling. He had his TV remote with him. Jim's problem or part of it, is that he cannot express himself. He says all the words correctly - he does not mumble or slur - but the word strings rarely make sense. I explained that there was no joy unless we were in front of his TV so we went there. He really couldn't tell me what he wanted. There was a ribbon on last watched channels that seemed to bother him because of the six, he only wanted 3. "I want to watch the UC one there on the far right." The one on the far right was NBC. He said his buddy who helped him set up was coming over today and he'd show him. I did remove some of the last watched. But never did figure out what he wanted. But he had a car race to watch so when I left he was happy. He never wants much and is always so pleasant.

Martha says that the neighbor care requirement here is greater than the rest of the complex. She thinks it's because we are on this shorten floor. Most floors have 20+ apartments and we have only 10. But, I'm learning how to do it. Lips zipped, hands not raised, response, not volunteer. I think I can do it.

My friend, Steve, told me yesterday that he turns his thermostat down to 65 at night and then up to 72 during the day - every day. Seems like I tried that when I first moved in and it did not work. I was getting heat when I wanted cool. But, hey, Steve's been here for a lotta years. So I tried it last night. Heaven. It was just perfect for sleeping. My bed said 92 out of 100. This morning I turned it to 72 - too hot. So back down to 70 and I opened the door to the patio which thrilled Julio.

The Phillies game is about to start. The Mariners are playing at Williamsport, PA - the home of the little league world series. I might watch some but for sure on mute. I do not approve of baseball games in these silly places like car racing stadiums and little league parks.

No big plans for after the game. Just the usual. I might run a couple of errands and I might save them for next week.

Yesterday we were in the hallway discussing Joan and I could tell that I'd lost her attention. She reached up to the back of my head "oh I think I missed a spot." Then she smoothed it down and declared that it was fine after all.

It's one thing to get a good barber but it's the creme dela creme to get one that will always be on the look out for when a trim is needed.

I got a call yesterday from a woman who lives on the other side of the complex. Their son is married to Joan's daughter. She called to tell me that Joan was in the hospital. "Her daughter's with her but she wanted me to call you because she didn't see anyone else on the hall to tell when she was leaving."

I get that. Particularly when I head out for Bellevue or some other place and am going to be gone longer than 30 minutes, I always think I need someone back here, on the hall, to know. No reason but I always think that. So I get it.

Joan has many many problems but lately, it's her back. It doesn't help that she is 92. But she has very active family and she has every single on of her marbles. Nothing to be done by us but I went to tell Bonny and she and I went into Joan's apartment to make sure all was fine. It was. Bonny also told me that John had his first massive drug treatment and it went fine.

10 minutes later she was in my apartment to tell me that 'fine' was apparently short lived and that now he was in the same hospital as Joan.

Elbow Coffee will be sparsely attended this morning. Jack is on a cruise and Jim and Gail are off somewhere again.

I love my new coffee table. I have a power brick and charging cables that I use for computers, watch, cat toys, phone. And I have all my knitting stuff. I finally decided that the charging stuff needs to go into the table. I have two cables, then, that need to come out. So last night I grabbed my handy dandy drill and the biggest drill bit I have and dug out a hole. It was a lot harder than I expected but I managed to get a slot exactly the right size.

I did trip over the power cable twice so I looked into a cable cover. My first try was a total fail - going back to Amazon. But then, I thought, why not a throw rug?! Like the one I have on the other side of the room?? PERFECT and they are on sale. It will be here Monday. So I just need to be extra careful til then.

And speaking of charging, I see that Julio's favorite toy needs more juice.

My two games are on at the same time again today. Yesterday, they kept pulling ahead and then falling behind, both of them. So I'd keep the sound on the one that was behind until they pulled ahead and then mute it when they got the needed runs and listen to the other game. It worked out fine.

Martha and Bonny both wanted mini monsters in school colors. I complied.

This morning after volleyball my heart started racing. It happens from time to time but today I could not make it stop. I went on with my regular stuff, including hauling the heavy table bits up and then going back to return the cart I borrowed. Still it raced. So I didn't rush anything and rested a bit before I opened the table box.

I do have a handy but reliable??? ECG app on my watch and it wouldn't work because my heart rate was 141 and it can only measure under 121. Whatever. It slowed down a little and I got to work.

The table was a little more complicated than I expected but I took it slowly and got it all built. And the box tossed and the old C table put into the storage area and my stuff moved to the new table which, actually, I like quite a bit. It pops up to the perfect height for typing and eating but then down low enough to make a nice footrest and it has lovely storage.

My heart rate is down now but still wonky. If I die, feel free to pass on these dets to anyone who wants to know.

Next up. Vacuum. Table building is messy.

I love my car repair place. They always welcome me and my Smart Car with open arms and take very good care of me. But, BrianTheServiceAdvisor (I have his card so I know his title) isn't their star. They open at 8. They want you there at 8. But if you get there before 8, you have to wait outside. I got there this morning at 8:02. Door locked. So I went back to my car to get the mileage which I'd forgotten to jot down. 39925.

When I got back, the doors were open and Brian was waiting. I handed him the letter that shows I get %30 off and pointed to the mileage. The correct answer was "Oh, thank you!" What I got was "oh, I don't need that". I do need the key. "The key is in the car." The correct response is "oh, great. we really rather you bring it in so no one can nip the car while you are in here! But, that's for next time. I'll go get it right now." Brian says "don't ever do that!!!".

It's a tone, Brian. A tone makes the diff. Didn't your mother teach you that?

(The Mercedes place in Seattle had a fit if you didn't leave your key in the car BUT, in fairness, that was after you drove into their massive windowed garage.)

Brian told me to have a seat. They have this fabulous snack basket/coffee area and I had already eyed a little package of iced cookies BUT before I could get my ass into a chair, a really nice voice behind me said "I'm actually ready to go if you are." And I was home by 8:15. Realizing that Brian had not asked me if there was anything special I wanted them to look at or described the services they will perform. I trust them. I just don't like Brian.

But, it will be fine.

It's not nearly as cool out as I was expecting. And my a/c is acting wonky. Right now, it's too hot in here. In about 10 minutes it will be too cold. I suspect we're now dealing with residual building heat after the last few days of too hot. This, too, shall pass.

My measure of a good hair cut is when I roll out of bed in the morning and there are no stickie-outies. I can just smooth it out with my hand and I'm good to go. Bonny did an excellent job yesterday. It was perfect when I rolled out of bed this morning. She now has a permanent job.

I'm still stressing about my banking situation. BUT I've decided to hold off doing anything about it for now. I've still got my main accounts and a small backup checking account at another institution and probably, really, that's all I need.

No plans for today - well, TV, puzzle, baseball, knitting... the usual. And go pick up the car when it's ready.

I did not leave my apartment yesterday and I ate way too much and it was a lovely lovely day.

Today I have nothing on the calendar. No clue why aqua yoga was canceled but I'm delighted. I will probably go out and puzzle some. I might order a meal for pick up. I will watch the Phillies game (the Mariners are off today) but, that's the entirety of the plan.

Looks like my new coffee table might get here on Wednesday which means I might actually have it on Thursday. They used to let us come pick up packages after they were delivered but now you have to wait for them to bring them to you and that's generally not until the next day. Annoying but not a huge issue most of the time. It will be a huge issue when I order a new phone or some other new tech gear. I'm not sitting around waiting for it. BUT I want to use my special case begging for exception for special cases. And Thursday will be fine for the table.

I started a one line a day journal in January of 2023. It's a 5 year book. and I noticed last night that I am now more than half way through the book. I do my entry when I get into bed at night. It is interesting to peek at what happened last year and the year before. This week two years ago I was just about to start thinking about CCRC's for real and looking into places like Timber Ridge.

The pool has been so cold and then, Thursday, cloudy. So when they sent the announcement that it was closing for maintenance, we really didn't think it was going to open any time soon. But it did! and this morning, the water was crystal clear and plenty warm and volleyball was very fun.

Elbow coffee was fine. No big news. Just comforting neighbors comforting. Everyone's really concerned about John. It's kind of like a wait before the wake.

Now I'm home watching the Braves and Marlins game because one of the umpires has a vagina! So far she's doing great. And they gave her a nice, but not overly nice, welcome. Deft.

So I added risers to my couch and that made the chaise piece look funny so I moved it to storage and then I discovered that there was a mess of wires under the table that just looked horrible so I plugged and unplugged and replugged and then eliminated a couple of cables and bundled the rest and it now looks much better. But, really, one thing and then another and then another...

Spacefem has another one of her financial entries up today that has me thinking. She has vastly different goals and needs and financial requirements than I do but her thots on her own finances always get me to rethink mine. Today I'm thinking about my Amazon purchases which I do not track in a lot of detail but want to start (or restart - I used to). I don't know that I'll make many changes, I just want to know for sure, what I'm doing.

And... here's a shocker... I have no Amazon returns!

Mainly, I'm pretty sad this morning about my brother's wonderful dog. The two are spending their last weekend together and it's just sad. I'm getting used to seeing the old die but it's still mostly sad.

I have a fair number of friends here who are turning 89 this year. 1936 must have been a great year for sex. Several play volleyball. Last night I went down to scoop up some take out dinner from the buffet and ran into Steve (who's only about 85, I think) and Wally (one of the 89 year olds) and his wife, Marilyn. They were getting ready to go into the dining room and asked me to join them so I did. It was lovely. Wally had spent the afternoon watching the very long Mariners game that had just ended - as had I.

After dinner, I picked up my new sofa feet - the 2"ers to replace the 4"ers. Steve offered to come back and help but I said I thought I could do it and I did get them swapped out and, turns out 2" was right. Just enough height to make getting up easy.

Now I'm considering replacing my ottoman and c table with a coffee table that pops up. Actually, I just ordered it. Be here Monday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the ottoman and c table. Well, the table will fit into storage but the ottoman... It will all work. And look less hodge podge.

Today I'm going to the Goodwill in Bellevue. I have two things I want and I think I can find them there rather than go into Seattle. It's not that much closer but a little easier to deal with maybe. And I might stop at that big Daiso store on my way home.

The shade rehanging was done gratis as it should have been. I swapped notes with the sales guy and thanked him and then revised my previously revised review - back up to 5 stars. All is good.

It's still cloudy and so dark. When I got back from volleyball, just after 8, it was very dark in the living room. I got two wall sconces last Spring for just such dark mornings and, this morning, I fired them up for the first time. Perfect. Just a splash of soft light which is all I need and want first thing. And, they have a 1 hour button so I can just press that and forget about them. I charged up both last night so I'll be interested to see how long a charge lasts at an hour a day.

It's warm in this living room this morning so I opened the door to the terrace which I rarely do. Both cats are fascinated with the smells and sounds.

Amazon is sending my lower risers today. I have a plan for swapping them out. But, Plan B is text to Steve who's ready if Plan A doesn't work.

The shades installer/reinstaller is on tap to be here sometime between noon and 3. He needs to take down and rehang the window shade. There will be holes. I should dig out the paint pot I have for that wall color. But, mainly I want him to be a little tidier this time in how the middle meets and the ends align. We'll see. I do still love the look and the function of these blinds. They are so much better than the ones I had in condo - as far as smartness is concerned. The only problem I have is trying to remember if telling Alexa to raise them to 75% means they will go mostly up or mostly down. Usually, I tell her 50% because that one's easy for both of us.

The checkup light on my car's dashboard came on yesterday. This is how I know it's time for my annual visit to the nicest car fix it place in the world. I called yesterday and they are going to fix me up next Wednesday. They are always so lovely to deal with. After years at the hands of the snotty, rude Mercedes people, these folks are a joy. I don't expect any big issues. It's running fine and does not yet have 40,000 miles on it. It will turn 14 years old next week.

I was working from home using Comcast internet and they had an outage and I couldn't do any work things so I got into my Ford Fiesta and drove to the Smart Car dealership. I'd been thinking about it for a while but had yet to actually go get into one. It was a blistering hot August day and I thought, if the a/c works, I'm buying it. They had several ready to sell and two in excellent colors. I picked the green one. Handed the guy my cash and my Ford keys and drove it home. I love it as much today as I did that day. About six months later, Mercedes bought the brand so I never went back to that dealership.

We had another Comcast outage the next week and my boss asked 'so... what are you buying today? a horse?'

The Mariners are playing a day game today and the Phillies aren't playing at all.

I really do not like being hot. Really. So Summer is not my favorite time of year. Of all the country, I live in the one area that is rarely hot and still, too hot for me. I also don't like the sun. I like light but direct sunlight hurts my eyes and makes me hot. For two+ months out of the year are days are so long that it's light out when I go to sleep and the sun is shining brightly when I wake up. And I really don't like any of this.

My ideal would be days with highs in the 60's maybe 70's once in a while. Dark by 5 and light by maybe 7/8ish. In other words, The Pacific Northwest - 6 months out of the year.

BUT this morning, I woke up at 6 and it was really overcast outside. Inside, I had to turn a light on to feed the cats - haven't had to do that since DST started. It's now 7:30 and still cozy in and cloudy out with a little rain! Actually, more of a random spitting but, hey, beats the fucking sun!!

It's also coming into a crowded part of the year. Dick is very into puzzles and we are working on a rhythm. Yesterday morning, he actually called me to say he had his puzzle ready but they were going out (he and Jan take long, involved walks every morning). I told him I was going out myself but would be ready to start when I got back. "Well I'll put it on the shelf, I don't want anyone to start it but you."??? Ok. So I felt compelled to go get it started yesterday afternoon. And I also had two baseball games.

Today is the same. The Phillies game is at 9:30 so I can get it over with and have puzzling time this afternoon before the Mariners game tonight.

I am very very very glad that Dick is so into it. Myrna and I spent hours and hours out there working on the puzzles. Other neighbors would come out and chat and it was such an easy way to people. Dick is stepping right into that role and I'm delighted.

My neighbors on the hall are all nice people with one exception who, happily, rarely leaves her apartment. The others are fine but just not people I want to spend concentrated time with. So seeing them randomly out there in the elbow is perfect. I can catch up. They can see me. Everyone feels in the know. Plus, yesterday, Bonny came out and brought me some delicious tangerines.

This morning before the baseball, I need to go back to UPS. I bought some shoes from Orthofeet that I have tried to wear several times. Fortunately, around here, you can wear shoes for days and many steps without ever going outside. Great place for shoe trials. I really really wanted these shoes to work. But, alas, they are a fail and were more than $100. BUT they are one of those Happy Returns, so while it will likely take a while, they go to the same UPS store as my Amazon returns. My buds.

But we're not friends enough that I should be showing up in my nightgown so I'd better go get dressed first.