Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

Very chilly here as well -- in the mid 20's but will warm up later. Not as much as I'd like, but summer ( actually Fall too ) went so fast that is what I'd really like to be having. There is a beautiful Maple tree in my neighbor's yard when I'm leaving the lane. This yr. it has just been stunning. Such beautiful deep red leaves. As I'm driving down the lane and look up I usually just end up sucking my breath in and ending with an O'Wow !!! Since our temps dropped down below freezing the past couple of nights, the leaves of that tree are dropping dramatically. It is still breath-taking, but the leaves so much thinner now. The ground around the tree is littered with those red leaves --- which makes a post-card picture of Fall.

Hard to believe we are up to the week-end. Though I don't mind my work I'm starting to feel at least a little anxious. I come home every day to do my work here and look longingly at my bed --- going un-used for now. Clean sheets await, but won't be till the coming Wednesday night when I will get to sleep at home again. At any rate, I'll get over it quickly --- especially when I get a nice pay-check as balm for spending so much time away. Denny gets lonesome as well. I don't know how much is for me and how much is for our over-all routine. Like me, he has a lot of flexibility most times but we like what we like and we enjoy the quiet evening together talking over the day and enjoying t.v. before its time for bed. Coffee in the a.m. is also highly appreciated by both of us. Hmm, I guess we have to admit we are older and well into being creatures of habit --- or at least creatures, huh !!!!

Hi all,

And the hurricane repairs just go on and on. I think I told you we gave our tile guy a week off because we were all so frustrated about the errors, etc. Well, the one week turned into 2 weeks- and really not sure when he will be back. He was supposed to come Thurs, but he went to the Dr Wed, and they were sending him for an X-ray to check for pneumonia. Normally, I would find that highly suspicious, but we all have bad cases of bronchitis. My DGS started coughing last weekend, and everyday when she came home from work, my DD would tell him he had to go to school the next day. She would look to me for backup, but this week, I just kept saying that he was just laying on his bed watching TV and I thought the cough was getting worse. Finally, I took him to the Dr Wed. It was so funny, she was in the middle of telling us everything sounded clear when he coughed. She stopped in mid sentence and said "That's bronchitis". We weren't home 20 min when in walks his mother- she had a fever of 102 and had gone to an urgent care. We didn't seeher again til last night

I started coughing Wed night and went to the Dr Thurs morning. The coughing fits are the worst ever, and I had a really scary one this afternoon. I could not catch my breath. My DGS came in in the middle of it and I pretty much scared him to death. He finally got me into a sitting position,I had been in my recliner, and he started to pat my back. I gasped "harder" and he started pounding my back. He said I was as red as the pillows on our couch. When I got a breath, I told him to get the cough medicine, he asked if I needed a spoon and all I could do was shake my head no. I took one swallow, but that seemed to coat my throat enough for me to at least breathe. My son suggested that it could be from all the dust with the remodel which made sense, and Ron was in more of that than us.

They started on replacing the roof this week. First thing they had to do was add a pitch to the flat roof. I agreed that I would pay for the extra wood to do that, not realizing it would be another thousand dollars. They didnt come till at least 11 every day, and yesterday, they didn't come at all. No call, no excuse. My brother left to pick his girlfriend at the airport, and was planning to go out to dinner before coming home. So the rest of us went to bed. About a half hour later, my DD comes running over to our side of the house, yelling that it was raining in her room. It was just a small leak, but it was definitely raining. Had my brother call the roofer this morning , then went to tell my DD he was on his way, and found four more buckets by the dinng room door. The temporary paper they had put up had blown away.

And so it goes. I have optimistically scheduled a deep cleaning for the Tues before Thanksgiving. The new doors and windows will be here Fri, and the roofer told my brother the roof will also be done by then. If Ron gets the floors fixed correctly, and completes the few other tasks I have given him, every thing will be done except for the shed, which, of course, goes in the yard. Until that is done, we won't be able to get the garage cleaned up. I can't wait for everything to finally be done. And I am still waiting for the insurance to answer about the hole in patio ceiling, the solar panels and the wall damage. The idiot that came out to see that damage did a full inspection, even though I asked him several times, why he needed to go in all the rooms and check the roof. It took over 2 weeks for him to get the report to the claims dept, and she had to send it back, for him to remove everything that repeats the same info.

You were all talking about the weather. My brother said his girlfriend kept telling him which jackets she was bringing. It was freezing in DC where she lives. He said she just couldn't believe we are all still in shorts.

And the hurricane repairs go on and on. Hope everyone is doing better than we are.

Anne

Sometimes when it 'rains' it really does pour doesn't it Anne. I am so sorry all this is going on and that your family in addition has to fight bronchitis. I had that this past winter so my reality on it is fairly strong as yet. It is horrible. I coughed for nearly three weeks and by the time I 'thought ' to finally have it checked out I was into heavy-duty exhaustion. So, mainly I pray you will all get well -- sooner rather than later. Of course, goes w/o saying that I hope your work gets done CORRECTLY and as quick as possible.

I think all here were thrilled that you would have Ron and only have temporary issues -- boy there are likely a lot of people in those who missed that boat. You are your usual stalwart self -- looking on the bright side that seems so hard to see, but you do it. Thinking of that appt. to deep clean that you have made. My hat is off to you. Well you know -- if we aren't stoic, who will be stoic for us. Sure hoping for all good fixes here.

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
- Wayne W. Dyer

Bob's much better today and might even get "sprung." As for Gilda Radner, when he was in second grade, Gordy chose "It's Always Something" for his first book report. He's been an SNL fan ever since age 4, when I took him to the Museum of Broadcast Communications and we watched a couple of episodes from the first season. Several of his college & improv friends went on to join the writing staff--and Aidy Bryant was on his college improv team with him. Vanessa Bayer was his teacher at Improv Olympic...now known as "i.o."

"Physician, heal thyself." Never truer than now.

Poppy, YAY on the clean mammo!

The installers for the new dishwasher thought they were finished but then a cabinet drawer wouldn't close so they had to reroute some plastic hose. I ran the dishwasher last night and it is even quieter than the old machine which was the same brand, Bosch.

Meanwhile the kitchen faucet is leaking. DH got the name of a handyman from Ace Hardware. Once dh would have replaced the faucet himself but I would just as soon pay somebody to be a contortionist and do the job. Getting to the faucet up under the sink is a challenge for a younger man with a more flexible body. First we have to buy the replacement faucet.

Off to the gym this morning and then bingo this afternoon at the nursing home.

Happy Tuesday.

Poppy, I'm like you and others here I'm sure. I want to get ALL I paid for and to boot I usually buy the extended warranty on many things --- especially if they are expensive items. If you never use it good for you but the store does win. If however you do need to use it -- often you will get another brand new item depending on the problem. Smaller items generally the protection agreement is barely worth it, if at all.

Carole, my last dishwasher, ( the old Kitchenaid lasted 22 yrs ) a couple of yrs. ago was a Bosch. I think I'm not likely to want anything else. Sometimes to be sure it is actually running I have to put my ear down to it. There are lights on the front, but the lack of sound most of the time it is running still startles me once in awhile. The old Kitchenaid would still function but slowly the push button controls spend most of their time freezing up till I was down to one setting only and you had to really play with it to get it on. Also, it sounded like a train going through. The Bosch was on a great sale ( being a floor model ) so I got a super bargain price wise.

Since Dh works for the store I get advance notice of the best prices. One good thing coming from his working well into retirement yrs. I have thought about replacing my fridge, but the best I can do right now for what we both would like is $900.00 and I don't feel we can spend that kind of money right now.

For Poppy's mammo

Bob got sprung tonight! Had I not had rehearsal at 6 downtown, I could have taken him home right after dinner. But I couldn't miss another rehearsal, and didn't want him taking a taxi home to an empty (save for the cats) house. So they let him hang around after discharge till I could finish rehearsal (which blessedly ended an hour early), take the train back north, pick up my car and "bust him outta the joint." His partner and the interventionalist who covers for him (and vice versa) made him promise to take tomorrow off--he will probably spend all day watching soccer and stuff he'd DVR'ed, and maybe reading echocardiograms on his laptop. His mentor & ex-partner, who retired 15 yrs. ago, pleaded with him to retire sooner rather than later while he can still enjoy travel & leisure, maybe see patients a few hours a week at Union Health. He's considering it, but probably not before 2019.

My dishwasher's a Miele--have had it since 2011 and it's a joy. Quiet too.

I saw a program on the Travel Channel or the Food Channel (can't remember which) that brought me back to my childhood. They were showcasing Lake Superior Whitefish, pasties and (what the program was calling) Trenary Toast. I realized the toast was named for the bakery in Trenary, MI. I grew up with all of these foods, except I knew the Trenary Toast as korpu. I had forgotten about korpu. My mother never made it, but my Finnish uncle would take me to his boyhood home and his mother would always give me two slices of the cinnamon toast with strong coffee to dunk it in. She would put a lot of sugar and cream in the coffee and I was 'encouraged' not to tell my mother because she didn't allow us to drink coffee. I got so nostalgic, I ordered a couple of bags. I can't wait for a quiet morning, two slices of cinnamon korpu and coffee for dunking.

Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is
because we are different that each of us is special.

Brian Dyson

My former singing partner married her longtime sweetie (and formed a duo with him) and they bought a house in the U.P. east of St. Ignace. At one point, we used to perform up there several times a year: Escanaba, Marquette, Munising, Grand Marais. All times of year, too. Summer solstice evening we performed in Escanaba and immediately drove up to Grand Marais for a festival we were playing--the sun never fully set! And we've done concerts in Marquette in deep snow and subzero temperatures. It is lovely country up there--and often, when Lake Michigan freezes over, Lake Superior up by Marquette doesn't. And they call Escanaba the "banana belt," because it gets more days of sunshine (however cold) than other parts of the Midwest.

Just realized it's been eight years since I was last up there.

Love hearing the info on the UP. I do have a second cousin who lives there. Transplanted from Illinois and the military. His wife's family has lived there all their life. So, I learned some things I didn't know and would NOT have known to ask. It is one of the things that I'm most grateful for and why I just can't let go of my little niche in BC. Org. Usually, whatever helps you learn and grow -- even by the smallest increment is a good thing.

Chilly and a bit gray here with a few leaves still coming off the trees. I hope it will be a good day though. I have a number of things to get done -- nothing earth shaking but just the normal. I will however, have to do them around Dh's day off which can always BE a challenge. Crossing my fingers as I continue my hello to morning.

Hope you all have a fantastic day.

VelvetPoppy,

I'm a troll (below the bridge) but have spent many summers in the UP over my lifetime. Brevort, Mackinac Island every summer with the cousins when you could pay a dollar and swim in the Grand Hotel's pool. Blaney Park, Iron Mountain and Ishpeming this past summer for six weeks. Love the whitefish and pasties. I will have to look for the bread next summer.

Jo