November chitchat

[agate]

Virginia, it's been rainy here, so rainy that I found almost no time to clean up my patio a little. The rain ruined my hosta plants for the season, and I went out when it didn't seem to be raining to cut them back and try to sweep the wet patio because of all of the pine needles--and it promptly started to rain again. Great weather for slugs.

I got the new teeth on Tuesday and happily took them home, thinking I was all set, but that was before I tried eating. The pain was really bad, so bad that it lasted for quite a while after removing the "appliance." Do dentists still call these gadgets appliances?

So I'm going back but the soonest I could get an appointment will be the 20th. For a few blissful moments I was able to eat a few bites of pizza.

flatcap, have you checked out the canes you're thinking about to make sure they're right for you? The wrong cane can be dangerous or useless, as I understand it--something I failed to realize years ago when I acquired a 4-pronged cane and wondered why I kept tripping over it and finding it to be more of a nuisance than a help.

[flatcap]

agate, I am sorry to hear you are having complications with your new teeth. I hope things get worked out on the 20th.

A couple of the canes I was looking at are now in stock again. I am leaning toward one of them but have yet to make a final decision. Both are derby style canes.

One thing I am concerned about is the length of the cane. It appears 36" is standard, but I don't know what height would work best for me. I have a tape measure and extended it to 36", then tried using it as a mockup of a cane of that length, but I didn't learn much. It was hard to keep the steel tape straight; it wanted to curve and did. That made it seem like 36" would be too short, but I think I'll try one of that height and see what happens. I just have decide between the two canes I am looking at. Since this will be my first of this type, I will probably go with the cheaper one.

These are the two canes I am considering:

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ETA: I thought about getting an adjustable-height cane, but I tried one years ago and found it too rickety. I know better what to look for now in terms of the adjustment mechanism, but I could only find sticks with spiked tips, making them suitable only for outdoor use. I decided I want a solid wood cane this time, one with a rubber tip.

[agate]

flatcap, if I were going to try a cane again, I'd definitely talk to a physical therapist or some other person with knowledge about how to get fitted for one (someone who isn't just trying to sell me a cane, of course). And I'd go to a place that sells canes and try them out for as long as needed to get the right one. If you haven't seen this already, there's some information here:

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[Snuggles]

Agate, I'm glad the O'Cedar 'modification' worked well for you. I wring out as much water as I can before using it and it does not seem to leave too much water on my floor. You could also dip the pad into a dish pan of water/soap or water/vinegar. I do that if I think my floor is dirtier than usual.

Virginia, I have a steam mop and used it once a few years ago. I would like to use it again but I have to find the instructions because I forget how to use it!

Yesterday my phone came up with a 'No Sim Card' message and I was unable to send/receive phone calls or texts. So my hubby and I went to the mall to the AT&T store. They had to replace the Sim card and now my phone is up and running again. While we were at the mall we walked around a few stores. I have walked at the mall during the week and I was surprised how much more crowded it is on the weekend! I will avoid the mall on the weekends in the future if I can!

We plan to travel out of state to my sister's for Thanksgiving. My whole family (7 adults and 3 kids) will travel to her house on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and will leave on Saturday morning. It is one of my favorite times of the year. We talk, cook, play games and of course eat the whole time we are there. It is so nice to have such uninterrupted time to catch up on the goings on in her and her kids lives. We will have 6 little ones (7,5,4,3,2 and 9 months old) there so I'm sure it will be loud and hectic. It is usually the only time I see my sister's kids and their families. This year will be an exception because her daughter is getting married at the end of December so we will see everyone again.

It is a sunny day here. I appreciate the sunny days because soon it will be mostly cloudy and grey during the winter. I hope everyone is having a good day!

[agate]

Snuggles, I had no idea that such things could happen with a phone--having to go to a store because suddenly the SIM card goes out on you! But why am I surprised when I ought to be aware that life in general has become very much more complicated ever since electronic devices, especially cellphones/smartphones, came along?

Typewriters were kinda nice. You changed the ribbon now and then, or maybe the keys got stuck to one another at times and so you pulled them apart. Sometimes you took the whole thing in for an overhaul. That was it. Nothing else could go wrong. But of course it only produced typed pages and not very many copies at once.

But you had a phone for phone calls. You dialed it. The worst thing that could happen would be picking up the phone and finding others already talking on the line if you had a party line. Or the phone line might be down for some weather-related reason. There were no special buttons, no drop-down menus, no push notifications.... And no SIM cards.

People who are always reminiscing about the good old days are fairly tiresome. I'll move to a different topic.

That sounds like a very lively Thanksgiving you're about to have, Snuggles! With so many toddlers toddling, I'm sure there won't be a dull moment. Hope you'll have good weather for your traveling!

[flatcap]

Thanks for the cane tips and the link, agate.

[Virginia]

Agate, I know it was a disappointment to find your new teeth did not fit right and therefore you still couldn't eat without hurting. I hope that can be straightened out in one visit. I hope the van you ride in is heated for you because it might be cold about that time.

Flatcap, I agree with Agate about seeking some advice about how to use a cane and the length you need, etc. You might as well try to get it right the first time. I bought one from the pharmacy but it doesn't do much good. If I get another one I will definitely check up more on them.

Agate, what a shame that your hosta plants were ruined for the whole season.

Snuggles, if I remember correctly this is the trip your family took last year. Sounds wonderful to get everyone together to get caught up and as you said "eat lots of good food". You grown ups will have your hands full loving on the small ones, playing with them and taking care of them.

Recently I got a notice that I needed a new SIM card.for my cellphone. My provider sent me one free and my brother put it in for me. I have had that phone for many years and this is the first time I have needed one.

[agate]

My phone doesn't have a SIM card. Am I lucky or what? It's a special deal where the service is free through the Affordable Care Act. I paid for the phone but there was no SIM card.

I really dislike SIM cards. It's no fun to tinker with them as they are tiny and hard to maneuver into small spaces.

But then I don't much like these new phones everybody has to have.

Grumble.

I've become an old fuddyduddy.

Virginia, it was about time for the hosta plants to cave in to the weather.. They're like this every year. A hard rain or snow comes along and they're toast but they'll come back in the spring. It was about time for this to happen. They do turn a lovely gold color before they get hit hard though. I was enjoying their autumn look for a while. They started out as two plants, and now they're four. Soon I can divide them again and get even more hosta plants.

The oddest mushrooms (toadstools?) sprang up outside the laundry room window the other day and lasted for a few days. They were gigantic, each one about a foot in diameter, and the tops were white with dark rims but they were also bowl-shaped, a shape I've never seen in a mushroom. I tried to find them online to identify them. There were many, many types of mushrooms but not that one. This area may be a real mushroom heaven. I've known people who go hunting for chanterelles and other types of edible mushrooms around here but you have to know what you're doing in the mushroom world. (I definitely do not.)

[flatcap]

Agate, going back to vintage phone trivia, remember party lines? Along with rotary phones, those went away around here for good sometime in the early '90s. I managed to avoid ever being on a party line, but I remember hearing of them, not only here but in other places I have lived. From what I understand, party lines were the only option in some areas.

As for sim cards, I am sure there is one somewhere inside my little flip phone, but I have never seen it. I have seen pictures of them and gather there are two sizes of sim cards: tiny and tinier. I don't know which size is in my phone.

I have replaced my flip phone twice since I started using one in 2016. I have never dropped one, but they only cost about $20, so you get what you pay for. The replacement phones came with sim cards installed that let me keep my number. Activating the new phones online was easy both times.

I have thought of upgrading to a $300 flip phone that happens to meet military specifications and can probably stand anything I might throw at, but I would have to get a sim card from my phone service provider (Tracfone) and install it myself. I'm not sure I can do that without damaging the phone or the sim card. I have two fine tweezers, but they are stainless steel, never mind the fact that my intention tremor is off the charts.

I was also recently tempted to buy an iPhone SE 3 from Tracfone because they were offering them at a very low price. The iPhone SE 3 comes with an esim instead of a sim card. No one ever has to touch it unless it fails. Truly, the esim is the latest and greatest thing (/s). Unfortunately, if you read the reviews, the phone cannot be activated on Tracfone. Hard to believe they are selling it. Maybe they will get that fixed at some point, but if they do, it will no doubt be right around the time the sale ends.

I was thinking of upgrading to a smartphone because everyone, including businesses, assumes you have one. And, increasingly, sites like my bank's are being tailored for phones, sometimes to the extent they are barely functional on a PC. Right now, I can't pull up past statements, which is ridiculous. I complained, and they said they are trying to get it fixed, but they are being met with resistance by their vendor. They said they are at their mercy.

No, those of us who are mere customers are at their mercy.

Along with rotary phones, concern for the customer is becoming a thing of the past. You used to find it everywhere, but it is fading away fast. A lot of the time, there is no one there to provide it. On the phone or your computer, you are often talking to a machine. In stores, it is not uncommon to find no one on the floor who can help you. Often, when someone is there, they don't even know where things are on the shelves and couldn't help you find them if they had a map. I have even seen them look at their phones and kind of go, 'Duh.' You can't get these people to think, much less care about the customer.

That is all.

For now. LOL

[agate]

How true. I've been realizing lately that a lot of time has passed during my lifetime, and of course things have changed. It's really sad that they're changing so fast and furiously that people who haven't moved along with the new technology are helpless. The older I get, the steeper my learning curve, I guess, but there are some new items that I just see no need to get on board with.

A lot of the problem seems to have been related to the transition from computers as stationary items on desks to becoming portable.Many people are not just mobile because they can walk around and even drive around but mobile because they can and do FLY around. They insist on mobility--lots and lots of it. They're not just out there on the run constantly. They're on the fly as well. They seem to have to have their "contacts" with them at all times, even when they're in the bathroom. They talk on their phones while in the bathroom.

They're even leaving houses they've paid good money for and pretty much living in their RVs. They can't sit still. And now their phones are with them everywhere they happen to go.

I'm not (and never have been) enough of a multitasker to imagine wanting to be that connected to anyone.

That is the part of the modern era that I just don't get. If I'm doing something important to me, I want to concentrate on that task, even if it's just taking a bath or fixing a meal. I sometimes use foul language if the phone rings while I'm fixing a meal.

I've been trying to stop that bad habit ever since I did that once, loudly, and the caller was my next-door neighbor who happened to be right outside my door, trying to give me some strawberries she'd brought me. I don't know if she heard me but am afraid she might have.

This homebody is having to realize that most people are far more mobile than I am. They can be right outside my door, armed with their phones.

[flatcap]

I have had an anti-cell-phone bias almost since day one. People used to strut around in public talking on them as if they were gifts from god and not for us mere mortals. I remember one such incident in which a guy marched out of a Starbucks while I was on my way in, and not only was he talking on a cell phone, he had this giant bluetooth thingy hanging out of his ear. Man, he looked [self-]important.

As for contacts, I neither make nor receive many phone calls and therefore have no contacts set up. My phone more often than not just sits there at home, which, to be honest, is usually fine with me. For example, for several reasons, I much prefer eating alone. I don't know how people talk and text on their phones while eating, but I have seen them do it.

A long time ago, about eight years, an acquaintance and I were having lunch, and he answered his phone. I'm sure I must hive given him a look because he said he had to take the call, but that was BS. It's like the one and only time I ever really needed his help, and he couldn't come because he was playing in a local golf tournament. This was not some big-league affair. It was a bunch of pikers who liked to go around in large groups and 'golf' and get drunk. Probably better he didn't drive to come get me.

Funny, I haven't talked to him since.

As for travel, I was never much into it. When I did go on a trip I much preferred driving over flying, but I admit I would like to go on a train someday. I did once on a field trip in grade school, but the train only went from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, MD and back. Maybe it was a commuter train. I don't know, but it was fun. I remember my lunch was an egg salad sandwich with, I believe, some sort of orange drink. Sounds gross now, but I'm pretty sure I loved it.

I don't know about keeping up with tech. I have a three- or five-year-old PC connected to a ten- or eleven-year-old TV, my $20 flip phone, and the exasperating tech built into my car, and that's about it.

Well, I do have a ten- or eleven-year-old printer — I got it at the same time as the TV — but I don't see how anyone could get along without one. I know I wouldn't do very well without mine. My handwriting is so terrible now, I print shopping lists on 3x5 cards, and that's just a start.

I don't know about change, but I do know I am increasingly not taking it very well. I get confused even by things such as the self-checkout machines at the grocery store. I avoid those whenever possible....

Oh, wait....It seems that I, too, have become an old fuddy duddy.

In my defense, I would just say that, at the rate things are going, like Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... said, Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register....

For now it's all relative, and sadly age matters, but soon, nobody will be able to keep up.


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[flatcap]

Well, nobody is talking, so I'll report on my dinner. Tonight (Tuesday), it was fish and chips again. Like last time, I couldn't finish the huge side of fries. Everything was great, though, including them.

I took everyone's advice and skipped the fresh fruit. Too bad, really, but to be honest, I was having to force myself to eat it anyway, with it being unripe and all. I have a definite sweet tooth.

Speaking of teeth, I had a crown fall out Saturday night. I couldn't get in Monday — which is yesterday to me right now since I have been up for a while — so I went to the dentist today (Tuesday). Kind of a mess, but they were able to save the tooth. They fitted me with a temporary, and I have an appointment in two weeks for the fitting of the new permanent crown.

I went to the store yesterday (Monday) and got, among other things, some green and red grapes from the deli. The green grapes were HUGE! I had never seen any that large. I generally prefer red grapes, though. They are usually sweeter than the green grapes grown around here.

Can't think of anything else. Pretty boring life, huh? If it weren't for this place, YouTube, and free movies and TV shows, I would be going nuts.

Which is not to say I am not, but only to say there is always hope. LOL

[agate]

I prefer red grapes too but in a pinch I'm OK with the green ones. I eat grapes a lot.

Getting dental work done can be such a drain on time and energy--not to mention the budget. So sorry about the crown, flatcap. Crowns seem to be something dentists are fond of doing but they do fall out--more work for the dentist. More problems for the patient. I hope the new crown will be problem-free.

I've been dealing with my eligibility for the paratransit system. They do a review every few years. I always have to go to some headquarters of theirs for an interview, which sometimes has involved an outdoor test. I've had to be out on a street with the wheelchair so they can see how I'm navigating. One of the streets I had to cross was paved with bricks. Not so easy. They also had a simulation of an actual city bus where they could find out whether I could board it, etc.

This time I'm glad they're not doing that part but they are doing the interview. I put it off because I had other appointments cluttering up my time. Too late I learned that there is a 3-week wait while they process the application, starting from the date of that interview. So for 3 weeks in December I would no longer have transportation, and I have a couple of medical appointments scheduled in that time.

So I've been on the phone trying to straighten this out. It looks as if I have a good chance of not being cut off, or if I am, it won't be during the times when I have to go anywhere.

Sorry I haven't been here much. Transportation issues can be unsettling.

[flatcap]

I suppose it is just bureaucracy designed to prevent fraud, but it seems to me them putting you through reviews every few years is a waste of time. I mean, it's not like MS has been cured or anything. How is it you are supposed to get better over time when you have a progressive, incurable neurological disease? It makes one wonder if they even bother to consider a person's age.

I had similar paperwork I had to fill out annually to maintain my long-term disability insurance. Every year the same thing: In addition to needing help to complete the forms requiring only my input, my doctor had to fill out one of the forms they sent each year. I hated having to ask him to do that. I say "hated" because it's over now. I sent the annual paperwork in about a month ago, and this is the last year I will be covered by the policy. Next year, I will begin drawing my pension, which I look forward to because it will give me a bit more income. I am hoping I can even save a little.

I hope your efforts to navigate the bureaucracy surrounding your eligibility to continue using the paratransit system in your area are successful. We have one here called Dial-a-Ride, and it helps a lot of people. During operating hours, they will take you anywhere in our area on demand. I see myself having to give up driving not too far in the future, and it will be good to have something to fall back on.

I am especially looking forward to the paperwork. /s

[agate]

I think most communities of any size now have a system similar to your Dial-a-Ride. Here there are actually two to choose from but they have different rules.

One is run by the city and is a subdivision of the whole transit system (buses, trains). They have to find a ride for any eligible rider, provided the reservation is made a day ahead of time. It costs $2.50 per ride and that's about to increase.

To be eligible for the other one, you have to be eligible for the city-operated system. This alternative system has no obligation to provide a ride. I always opt for them because their setup works better but all too often I don't get a ride and have to use the other system. This one is free but they want a donation of $3 per round trip, which I always send them. Some of their workers are volunteers, and I'm grateful that this service is an option. But there are no rides after 4 PM, and they require at least a week's advance notice.