Pat's On His Way!

Pat a few minutes ago at a Burger King restaurant in Bath New York this morning.

 Pat left his home in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada at approximately 3:30 AM for his nine hour plus trip down here to southern coastal Delaware.

He thought he would get an early start. However, he encountered a problem that he had not anticipated. 

SNOW!

He called me from upstate New York State just below Buffalo. He was caught in a blinding snow in the dark.

Pat had decided to take toll free roads for his trip to Delaware but he didn't anticipate that he would encounter snow. The problem with taking toll free roads is that you're "in the country." Add the darkness and blinding snow, he didn't know where he was. Thank goodness we both have our GPS activated on our phones. I was able to tell him where he was and direct him to an Interstate road so he could follow other traffic and then a facility like a gas station or restaurant to pull over and rest. The picture on this blog I took a few minutes ago as I was talking to him on FaceTime. He had some home fries at Burger King in Bath New York and now is going to grab a nap in his Fiat, which doesn't have snow tires by the way.  

Pat should be here late this afternoon. 

Every day is an adventure.

SNOW!

 This is crazy!

I just got up from my daily afternoon nap and this is what I saw out my sun room window......SNOW!

Folks, yesterday the temperatures were in the eighties. I had to wait until late afternoon until I could do my yard work because it was too hot to work under the midday sun. Now snow today? 

Surely this is the End of Times!

Snow Damage

One of my holly trees that was broken. There are about eight more. 

This morning I took a walk around Casa Tipton-Kelly to survey the damage this blizzard wrought upon me. Unfortunately it's more than I anticipated.

I just left "Alfredo", my local landscaper who fortunately hasn't been scooped up by ICE. He'll clean up the mess for thousand dollars. There goes my budget again for this month. Each month I try to cut my expenses but alas, something always seems to happen to blow a hole in my frugal ways. I'm going to look on the good side though, I can pay the bill and no damage was done to my house. My neighbor had a tree fall on his car. My car is in my garage. Lucky me. 

Snowmageddon 2026

 

Well, I'll always remember the second anniversary of Bill's passing. We had a blizzard last night.

Thanks Bill!

I woke up this morning to nineteen inches of snow. 

Snow is very unusual here in southern coastal Delaware. I've been here twenty years and this is only the second time we've had an appreciable amount of snow. Bill would have loved this.

I think this was a present from Bill.

Thanks Bill!

Warming Up

Picture taken from my back deck yesterday afternoon

The temperature now is twenty-two degrees. The forecast for today is a "high" of thirty-seven degrees. This is a regular heat wave here folks! Maybe this frozen snow will finally begin to melt.

One good thing about living in the southern most county in Delaware (yes, I officially live in "the South"), it that on those rare occasions that it does snow, the snow is usually gone in a day or two. Not this time folks, our rock free sandy loam soil has been covered with frozen snow for two weeks now. This is the longest I can remember since I've been living here (twenty years). 

Right about now I should be packing for my annual trip to Palm Springs and Modernism Week. No trip this year. As I said neither Pat nor I can afford that luxury this year. And talk about cold, whatever cold temperatures I'm having down here in Delaware, Pat's having at least ten to fifteen degrees colder. This is a winter both of us will remember well.

Next year, Palm Springs. If I'm able to that is. We're planning on driving out. Yes, across the United States. Something I've always wanted to do. Now is the time to do it because I'm running out of time. I remember years ago a woman who I used to work with at the bank said she was visiting Ireland, where her ancestors came from. She was older and she said "Ron, I want to visit while I can still walk." I thought that was an exaggeration on her part but now I know what she meant. I'm barely able to walk. Another reason I don't want to be running through airports trying to make a connection. 

Have a great day everyone!

Survived The Blizzard of 2026

Hey folks! I have survived The Blizzard of 2026!

Glory be to God on high!

In my neighborhood here in southern coastal Delaware just up the road (ten miles) from Rehoboth Beach, we received maybe three or four inches. That's just enough to make everything pretty and winter like. 

My neighbor across the street from me offered to snow blow my driveway out which he did. At first I turned down his offer (I hate to ask anyone to help me) but when he said he's only used his snowblower once since he got it two years ago, I accepted his offer. 

I was going to go out today at the edge of my property to dump some accumulated garbage for my compost pile but decided not to because of the frozen snow. No thank you, I don't want to take a chance of falling. I put my container of potato peels, apple peels (made fresh applesauce this morning) and green pepper and onion debris (made Swiss Steak two days ago - delicious!)

I'll just stay here, hunkered up until the snow melts and hope ICE doesn't come knocking at my door looking for undocumented immigrants.

First Snow of 2026

First snow of the season folks! 

Very pretty. 

Right now it sleeting rain.

I ain't going nowhere.

I'm hunkered in for the duration of this storm in my cozy warm house also known as Casa Tipton-Kelly.

Stay safe everyone!

Jan 22 Over the Years - Snow Is Coming!

The warnings are out! 

Winter storm watch this weekend here in lower slower Delaware.

This is a short video compilation of past winter storms that happened on January 22nd of previous years here in Sussex County Delaware.

Pictured are me with my late friends Bart, Bob and Jim and their cats. Also, my former boss at the hotel where I used to work including a picture of the hotel room where I stayed overnight because of the snowstorm. That's one of the advantages of working at a hotel, when you're snowed in you have a place to stay!

Stay safe this weekend folks wherever you are. Watch out for the ICE, both kinds. And yes ICE is here in my area although I haven't seen them....yet.

I probably will because I live near Georgetown, which is the county seat of Sussex County and Georgetown has more folks of the Hispanic heritage than they do the standard white folks. Very noticeable when shopping at the Walmart in Georgetown, lots of little brown people and also a lot of Hispanic food aisles, not just a little section of one aisle. 

This is the world we live in now folks. Not only do we have to fear the weather (which I do, I fell in 2015 and tore my left leg quadriceps muscle) but we now have to fear the ICE Gestapo terrorizing our fellow human beings. Criminals are one thing, I'm all for that but just regular folks seeking a better life? It's just wrong what is happening in the America I used to know and that I no longer know now. 

But here I go again, going down that negative road. 

Stay safe out there this weekend folks if you're in the path of this Major Winter Storm.

GO AWAY SNOW!

Selfie taken of me this morning in my driveway of the sunrise. Today will be a wonderful day, we're melting some snow today!

 Finally, a day with above freezing temperatures!

The snow has been hanging around here since last Sunday. I am so tired of it. 

The forecast today is a high of 41 degrees. I'll take it!

Today I finalize the packing of that box I'm sending out to my host in Cathedral City, California for my Palm Springs visit next month. The box, which I'm probably sending by Fed Ex, contains clothing, and my medications and a few other necessities that I normally would put in a suitcase and pay American Airline to lose, misplace, send to my destination in California. I got my new chargers for my iPhone 16. I'll put them and my spare teeth and my MacBook Air in my carryon bag.

I think I'm ready to go folks! 

Driveway Shoveled!

I did it! 

That wasn't my intention this morning when I got up and no snow has melted. Normally when we get snow here in southern coastal Delaware, it's gone the next day or two. That's because the snowfall is rarely above two inches and the snow melts the snow the next day. Not this time though. This snow descended upon Casa Tipton-Kelly this past Sunday night. I haven't been out of the house since. That all changed this morning. I felt cabin fever creeping in so I decided to attack my ice and snow driveway. 

I wasn't intending to do the whole driveway but once I started I kept pushing myself 

First thing I did was that ice and snow barrier at the end of my driveway that the community snow plow left me with. That took a while but I got it done. Yes I did! 

Then I got my big snow shovel out and finished the rest of my driveway. First I had to get my shovels which I had stupidity moved to my shed at the edge of my lot. That took a trudge out through the foot high snow in my acre back yard. Fun times. That was slow going. It took a while but I got it done. Yes I did!

I completed shoveling the whole driveway in two stages. The first stage was that barrier at the end of my driveway and breaking up a swath of ice on the road. I didn't want to get stuck there with my 2010 Subaru Forrester. I had that picture in my mind, spinning my wheels, stuck. 

All told it took me about four hours to complete the job. Yes, I got it done. This is the first time I've ever shoveled the whole driveway. Bill would have been proud of me. In fact, I believe Bill helped me.

Now the consequence of pushing myself, I have muscles that I didn't know I had that are aching now. 

Oh yes, more snow expected tonight. 

Cabin Fever

 

Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk after the snow

All right folks, I'm feeling the effects of cabin fever.

I have been out of the house since last Saturday. 

My driveway hasn't been cleared. The temperature hasn't risen above freezing since the snow storm of nine inches last Sunday night. 

Yesterday I guy trudged through the snow to knock on my door and asked if I wanted my driveway shoveled. I turned him down outright. I didn't even ask how much he was charging. On the NextDoor app I saw where these guy were charging $100 and up. I am not paying $100 to have my driveway shoveled for $100. Maybe $30 but NOT $100 or even $150. I even read some reports on NextDoor where some people paid up front and yes, the shoveler only did a half ass job and left. 

NEVER PAY UP FRONT FOR ANY JOB!

Tomorrow is trash pickup day and this week is recycle day too. I'm not putting out my two trash cans. I couldn't get them over the frozen humps of snow at the bottom of my driveway. I checked with my neighbor, who ventured out yesterday, and he said the main roads were clear. I have a Subaru all wheel drive and could probably get over the frozen humps of snow but I don't need to go out now so I'm not taking a chance of getting stuck. 

Here I am complaining about being stuck in my house when those horrendous California wildfires are happening in the Los Angeles area. Just awful, those fires. What a shame! My heart breaks for those people who have lost their homes. This morning I was watching a report on this actor who was venturing into those burned out areas trying to save pets who were left behind. I can hardly bear to think about it.  Blessed are those like this man who tries to save those pets. People like him renew my faith in humanity. 

I just about finished my packing for my trip to Palm Springs next month. As usual I was taking too many clothes. Pat talked me out of them. One thing I can't do without is my meds. Check it out. Had to refresh all my pill holders. I had label them. I can't remember them all now without labeling.

God, I wish I wasn't taking this trip. So much hassle and I haven't even boarded the plane. That should be fun, me with my cane, which I do have labeled with my name and phone number.

Last night I spent quality time with Bill. Yes, he came back to visit me by that Christmas light that he blinks on and off. That's Bill. I feel his presence when that light is on. I don't care what any one says, I know what I know. That is Bill. 

Bill's light, the yellow light in the middle of this photo at the top. 

By the way, I just checked to see if the light was on now, it isn't. But if it comes on later, I will sit in my living room and be with Bill for a while like I was last night. 

Lately, the past week or so I've been having dreams that others are in my bedroom with me. The sounds remind me of the sounds of the second floor apartment building where I grew up on Washington Avenue in Downingtown. That was Grand Central Station with people coming in and out (relatives who also lived in the same apartment building). I haven't heard those sounds since I was eight years old. At first I didn't recognize them. They sounded familiar but I couldn't place them. Now I know what they are. 

I do think when we have a physical death from this life that we are reunited with our friends, family and pets from our life. Oh what pleasure that gives me to think that is what awaits me when I return to my spiritual world.

Stay safe out there folks!

Snowed In!

 

Anderson Corner Road, where my late friend Bob McCamley used to live. I obtained this picture from a local news website showing the amount of snow on the roads here in Sussex County. This is rare for us folks. Probably the last snow of this amount I will see in this lifetime. The last time we had this much snow was about eight years ago. The difference was it was mostly gone in two days. This snow is going to hang around a while, just like it used to when we lived in Pennsylvania. 

I'm snowed in here folks!

Usually when we get the rare snow here in southern coastal Delaware, the snow is gone the next day. Not this time! This snow is staying a while.

The reason why is because the temperature is below freezing and forecast to stay that way for at least the next two days.

I didn't go out at all yesterday nor did I go out Monday. My driveway is unplowed and will stay that way until the sun melts the snow from said driveway. No way I'm paying $100 or more to clear my driveway. 

Everything is so expensive these days and my modest pension payments from three of the banks where I worked are the same as they were when I started to collect those monthly payment eighteen years ago. Thank goodness my Social Security payments have increased or else I would be in a world of hurt now. This year I've had a triple whammy hit me, no income from my part-time job at the hotel and no income from Bill's Social Security payments. I have some modest investments earning dividend income that helps with my major expense.......insurance payments. You know, that "free" Medicare "entitlement". Seems to me I remember paying into that for all my working years. But I'm not going to go on that rant now. My house is paid for and I can keep the heat and electric on, at least for as many years as I have left to live which isn't a whole lot now.

Speaking of which, Bill has contacted me a different way now. He turns the exhaust fan off then back on in my little toilet room off my bathroom. That Bill! Still has his sense of humor.

I'm trying not to watch too much of the news. Trump is up to his same old shit. Now he wants to take over Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal and rename the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America." What a fucking idiot! I wonder if my fellow Americans who voted for Trump

can get their head out of their ass long enough to finally admit that they made a BIG MISTAKE putting Trump in office. Hey folks, he ain't going to lower the price of eggs. 

Nine Inches

Nine inches. 

That was the amount of snowfall we received here in Sussex County, Delaware. 

I'll be snowed in for the next few days.

I won't even attempt to shovel myself out. If I did my eighty-three year old heart would probably give up the ranch and one of my neighbors would eventually find my half frozen body in my driveway. I still have that very expensive Palm Springs trip next month that I've already paid the airfare and VRBO rental. Can't let that go to waste. That trip will be my "last hurrah" as a name dropping Older Gay Guy making feeble attempts to impress one and all with my annual holidays in Palm Springs, the Older Gay Man Mecca of the United States. Unfortunately, after this year I can no longer afford to make the trip nor can my body hold up for getting there by flying connecting flights and then once I am in Palm Springs I just can't walk around as much as I used to in my Foolish Youth.

My neighbors returned for a week's stay at DisneyWorld late last night to this maelstrom of snow and icy rain. They had to get out of their driveway because both of them work and their kids have to go to school. Oh I am SO THANKFUL I am not working anymore and worry about how I was going to get to work at the hotel. Those days are in the past. Part of my very interesting memory bank.

If Bill was still here, he would be outside shoveling the snow right now. Oh how Bill loved to shovel the snow. This snow just brings back more memories of Bill. Every day it seems as if something reminds me of Bill. Bless his heart. He was so good to me. I miss him. I miss him. I miss him!

Bill shoveling snow from our driveway back in the day March 3, 2014

So how do I keep myself entertained when I'm snowed in like this? NOT.A.PROBLEM.

This morning I made a cherry pie. I pitted those expensive cherries imported from Chile that I brought a week ago ($4.99 a bag). That takes a while but I don't mind. I love to cook for myself. I'm still taking on the challenge of making that Perfect Pie Crust which I think I have finally mastered by using my food processor. I make a butter pie crust. SO GOOD! I made another apple pie over the week. I kept a couple pieces but froze the rest. Fruit pies freeze very well. I freeze individual portions. Works out well when my sweet tooth hits after my evening dinner. I do what you're not supposed to do, eat a dessert before bedtime.

My homemade lattice apple pie. Watch out Martha Stewart!

I hope this is the last snow of the season for here. This amount of snow is very unusual for Sussex County. I think the last time we had this much snow had to be at least ten years ago. I think snow is pretty but I would prefer to see it somewhere else than here. 

Winter Storm Watch

 

One of my neighbor's fur babies I'm watching while they're in Disney World

We're going to get some snow here folks! 

The snow is forecast to start at around 11 PM tonight and continue for the next twelve hours.

We don't get much snow here in southern coastal Delaware. However, every now and then we get walloped. I hope this isn't one of those times.

I think the last time we got any significant snow was at least five years ago. I know it was before I was caregiving for Bill and that was four years ago.

I used to dread the snow. Actually I still dread the snow but this time it won't be as bad because I don't have to travel in it

When I worked at the hotel I had some really scary times. I remember one time that the snow began coming down heavy about an hour before I left work for the night. By the time I was out on Route One, I couldn't see the highway, everything was all white. I had considered going back to the hotel (I live four miles from the hotel) but I was about halfway home so I decided to chance it. I was lucky, I made it home without any mishaps but it was close because I literally couldn't see where the side of the road ended. I feared going off the road and getting stuck in a ditch and thus stranded and thus freezing to death. Phew! I used up on of the remaining nine lives that night.

For this snowstorm I am comfortable ensconced here at home. My very comfortable and warm home. And here I intend to stay. This would be a good time to pack my clothes and send them to Glenn, my host in Palm Springs for my holiday next month. I'm not taking a suitcase with me on the plane. I'm mailing my clothes Priority Mail USPS. I don't want to go through the hassle with checking my luggage in on the plane, especially since I have to make connections. Phoenix going out and Dallas/Forth Worth coming back. I'm giving the United States Post Office a month to get my parcel of clothes out there to Palm Springs. Think that's enough? You never know with our Post Office. 

I hate to say this but in a way I wish I wasn't making this trip but I've already committed to it. This will be my last hurrah. Me and Pat's annual trip to Palm Springs was different when Bill was here at home. I loved Bill but it was nice to get away for a while. Now that I am here alone, it's different. Yes, Bill's spirit is still with me which I much appreciate but I'm just too comfortable here at home. I actually live in a resort, the Rehoboth Beach area. 

The past week I've been watching and taking care of my neighbor's fur babies (a dog and a cat) while they are enjoying a holiday at Disney World in Florida. They will collect my mail while I'm away. My neighbor on the other side also will be watching my house. He's a widower like me. We watch out for each other. I am so lucky to have such good neighbors. 

Now to settle in for the white stuff. 

So glad I don't have to travel in it. 

First Snow Of The Season

 

Last year we got by without any significant snow. 

I didn't mind. I hate the snow.

Nice to look at but very treacherous for this old man. Talk to my torn quadricep leg muscle of ten years ago about that.

A couple of days we received our first snow of the season. Not much by Iowa standards but a fair amount for us. About four inches. 

I didn't dare shovel our driveway. I'm not taking any chances of slipping and falling and breaking any of my old bones. Come to think of it, I've never broken a bone in my body. I've had a lot of other body failures but no broken bones. And I plan to keep that record. Thus, no going on on the black ice in my driveway that underlies the snow and shoveling.

With our black macadamed driveway the sun melts the snow which it did yesterday. We still have ice at the "lake" at the end of our driveway. Our poor fish pond is frozen over. I hope my dozen or so goldfish can survive this winter too like they did last year. Those goldfish are amazing at how hardy they are. Dig the pond deep enough and they survive and I had that pond dug four feet deep. They're down there, moving slowly. In a cold stupor no doubt. They manage.

With the sunshine, everything is a brilliant white outside. I definitely had to wear my wrap around eye exam sunglasses yesterday when I drove myself and Bill to Food Lion for groceries. 

Already I see green shoots of new daffodil growth bravely pushing through the snow. Those daffodils are relentless. 

Have a great day everyone and if you're in snow country, be careful!

Snow Gone!

Last of the snow - view of our backyard

Yes! The snow is gone! 

The temperature right now is 61 degrees. I'll take it!

It is raining lightly now. A dreary day but doesn't dampen several pieces of good news.

Yesterday Bill's hospice nurse measured his blood pressure and it came in at 103 over 62. That is excellent! First time since Bill came home from rehab last year at this time that his blood pressure was over 90. I took his blood pressure twice after she left just to make sure she got a good reading. I got similar results! Looks like Bill will be around for a while which is excellent news. Bill is a survivor. He's not the way he was before he had his two strokes last year but he is significantly better than he was when he came home from rehab. 

Bill will never be the way he was before his strokes but we can manage this way. He still needs me to help him dress and shower and feed him and give him his pills. He still has cognitive issues, slurs his speech, legally blind and stopped over but we're managing for which I am so thankful. I cannot imagine living her alone knowing he was in some facility. 

This morning I got a haircut. Exciting news huh? Well, I was supposed to get a haircut (which I badly needed) last Friday but the snowstorm put a kibosh on that plans. I was embarrassed to go to my barber this morning looking as shaggy as I did. I was starting to look like a bedraggled homeless old man, not my usual sharp self. 

I'm getting a new microwave oven! I was attempting to replace a burned out light in our fourteen year old microwave and the top vent fell off! Seems like everything in my life is falling apart. The microwave still works but the top vent is just held on my hope and chance. Get a new microwave Ron! Delivery expected this Tuesday.

More good news, our basement wall where our sewer pipe exits is not leaking! Fabulous news! Hopefully I paid #1,450 to get rid of that headache. Now if COVID ever goes away, I can resume my quarterly trips with Pat. This is the time of year that I would be in Palm Springs. Not this year because of my caregiving responsibilities for Bill and COVID. I will never travel as long as I'm caring for Bill. You never know how life works out but maybe life will return to normal or what passes for normal these days with so many of my fellow Americans willing to overturn our democracy in support of The Former Guy and his Republican enablers. Never in my life would I have imagined that our very democracy would be at stake because of the cowardice of so many and so many of my fellow Americans so easily conned by the Former Guy. I'm not feeling optimistic about the future folks with Joe Biden as our president. He's too old and he's a year younger than me! I cringe when he talks. Worst communicator ever. Sometimes I can hardly hear him and when I can he sounds like he's talking from the bottom of a well. Not an inspiring figure at all. Is the best we can do Dems? In the meantime Merrick Garland, our Attorney General is paralyzed to do anything to hold the Former Guy accountable for trying to overturn the presently election. Trump again gets away with breaking the law like he has his whole life. And yesterday Rachel pointed out four cases of voter fraud where Republicans did it. All voted for a dead person. All except one received probation except one who gove five days jail time. Yet a black woman attempted to register to vote, and was advised to do so by her probation office, got a SIX YEAR JAIL SENTENCE because she made this mistake. Yet, as I saw on the Rachel Maddow show last night, Republicans who are convicted of real voter fraud receive light sentences.

See HERE:

 

One day at a time folks, one day at a time.

 

Digging Out

 

Drone ariel view of our house late this afternoon Sunday January 30, 2022. I have our driveway almost clear!

Today was spent digging out of our third winter snow storm this year. 

Last  year we had zero snowstorms. This year we've had three already and we're just getting started in winter. Oh joy.

Oh well, I'm going to look on the woodside of this winter weather challenge. Before COVID and my caregiving responsibilities for Bill, every year at this time I traveled to Palm Springs to escape just this kind of weather. I hate the snow. Especially six years ago when I fell and tore my left leg quadricep which resulted in surgery to get my left leg working again. I had months of rehab to get back so some semblance of normality. My leg still isn't right but it works, for which I am thankful. Imagine if this happened one hundred years ago. I would be crippled for life. Thank goodness for modern medical practice.

Yesterday and today we made the first steps into digging into the foot and a half to two feet of snow in our driveway. Bill actually insisted on doing some of the shoveling of snow. I was very resistant at first because I didn't want him falling and breaking his hip and then where would he be? Where would I be? But he was so insistent, begging actually that I let him do some shoveling. He so wants to do something other than just sitting around falling asleep waiting for his next meal or trip to the bathroom. I rationalized that he could trip and fall in our house so I decided to let him do a little bit of shoveling. Good decision! He was happy. Didn't get much shoveling done but he felt good doing something. 

The picture at the beginning of this blog is a drone picture of our house and almost one acre of land. Our house is on the left. The drone picture was taken by our neighbor whose house is on the right. My brother Isaac who lives in Pennsylvania got a drone for Christmas from his son and sent me some pictures and videos he took of his house and property. I was wishing he could bring his drone down here and take some pictures of our house. What a stroke of serendipity that my neighbor Tom took a picture. His wife Shannon sent me the picture about an hour ago saying "Tom has a new toy, he thought you would ike this picture since you take so many pictures." She knows me well!

Snowmageddon Again!

Woke up this morning to another blanket of white.....snow!

Yes, "snowmaggedon" strikes again, third time this year here in southern Delaware.

Last year we had no snow. While I enjoyed that mild winter many of us paid the price with an army worm invasion which ruined many of our lawns, me included. Maybe all this snow will kill off those army worm grubs thus eliminating an army worm invasion and destruction this year.

I have to admit the snow is pretty. I made a couple good snowy videos for my background on my Zoom calls with friends. But I just as well could do without the snow. 

No problem with food here, I made the "we're going to be snowed in for weeks!" food run yesterday at Food Lion. 

Thank goodness we still have power. 

Let me say that again:

THANK GOODNESS WE SILL HAVE POWER!

Stay warm and safe folks!

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

 

Bill checking our the radar weather map showing snow this morning. Bill can see colors and that's about it.

Woke up to a light rain this morning that quickly turned to snow. 

First snow of the year!

Maybe this snow will get rid of the army worms grubs that did such devastation on our lawn last year. By the way, that lawn is slowly recovering but it did take quite a blow.

The snow is accumulating now. Thank goodness we don't have to go anywhere. I took our Snow Armageddon Run to the store yesterday. Stocked up on milk (and almond milk for me) and other "vitals" because you just never know, we may be snowed in for two weeks. Honest to God folks, when was the last time we had a major Winter Storm Watch and we were snowed in for even three days? The last I can remember was 1954 (I think) when I was a young brash lad of only twelve years old. We lived in downtown Downingtown, second floor apartment at 120 Washington Avenue. We actually lost power for a few days (first and only time). School was closed and I read the MacKinlay Kantor book "Andersonville" about the Confederate prisoner of war camp , Andersonville prison, during the American Civil War. 

I don't recall ever being snowed in ever since but God knows we always make that Milk Run to the store "just in case."

A light rain last night and yes, water is still seeping in our basement wall. I have old towels there to sop it up which I'm drying now. I will be so glad when I get THAT fixed. Of course the guy I hired to do it probably will be further delayed because of the snow. Patience Ron, patience.

Today I'm gong to try and get caught up on some loose ends. One being to call DdirecTV to disconnect the satellite box to Bill's bedroom TV. He can't see it anyway so why continue paying $7.00 a month?

Also, I haven't ordered my personalized photo calendars. Every year it seems I slip further and further behind in ordering those calendars. First I have to chose the photos, usually of moi. Maybe I'll do something different this year, I'm tired of seeing my old face. Probably like a lot of other people, tired of seeing my old face that is. I used to be somewhat nice looking. I've really gone downhill in looks the past few years since my prostate cancer and kidney stones and now full time caregiver. That will age anyone. Oh well, I had a good run. Now I'm on my last run, the Sliding Board Out Of Life.

I have to transfer information from my old iPhone to my new iPhone today. I've been putting that off long enough. I'm in this annual iPhone upgrade program. I like getting a new iPhone every year but I dread the transfer of information. I'm always afraid I'm going to screw something up and LOSE EVERYTHING. Never turns out that way but still. My mind is slipping, I can tell. 

Time now to update my online Scrabble games with Pat. He just texted me that he got up. I usually have those games (eight of them) ready for him when he gets up but today I took some time out to relax and look at the Ohio State Bank ("Best Damn Band In The Land") videos of their ramp entrances and pregame show at the Rose Bowl this year. Being a former marching band member myself, I always find it relaxing to watch a really good marching band. I need these moments as a respite. Blogging isn't my only way of dealing with daily life stress.

By the way, one of my New Year's resolutions is to blog every day. I don't usually make New Year's resolutions but this year (since I don't have that many years left) I'm making that a major goal. Of course much I write about is nonsense and would never win any awards for creative and interesting writing but this is my life folks. Humble as it may be . And I do enjoy writing about it. I often imagine someone five hundred years from now coming across the remnants of my blog posts and saying "WTF?"

Have a great day everyone!

Winter Storm Watch and Other Snowflakes

 

Rains a coming! We're the blue dot here in Rehoboth Beach, DE

What a way to start off the New Year. We here on the Delmarva peninsula (home of the 46th president of the United States - his summer place is only five miles as the sea gull flies from my perch here on my computer typing this blog entry) have a winter storm watch for tomorrow.

The temperature is not sixty degrees but falling to twenty-seven degrees tomorrow. Rain last night and off and on today.

We just got back from Food Lion (our favorite local food market chain store, it's not Wegmans but better than any of the other supermarkets down here in Lower Slower Delaware).  I had to stock up in case we're snowed in (we won't be but habits are hard to break). WE MIGHT BE SNOWED IN FOR WEEKS!

We won't be of course but JUST IN CÅSE

Our food store had plenty of empty shelves. Seems normal now ever since the onslaught of the COVID pandemic. I almost panicked because I couldn't find any half and half. If Bill doesn't have half and half in his morning and evening oatmeal (his main courses of meals since he doesn't have teeth now), there would be Hell to pay. As the Food Lion checking was ringing up my items I saw a carton of half and half on the conveyor belt placed by the lady behind me. I asked her "Where did you get that?" She said "On the shelf to the left in the far back." THEY MOVED THE HALF AND HALF! So I was one of THOSE people who hold up the checkout line while I rushed to the back of the store to the FAR LEFT and viola! There it was behind to really fat shoppers. "Excuse me" I ever so gently mouth my irritation at them without letting them know I'm irritated because they are blocking me. 

I quickly grab one of the three remaining cartons of half and half and rush back to the cashier, as fast as my eighty year old legs could manage. Just another reminded that I'm an old man. Wow, I used to be able to dash around large supermarkets like this in seconds. Nowadays my arthritic body barely manages and you know what? It's not going to get any better. Ah, the Golden Years.

The lady behind me in the checkout line was waiting with pursed lips. At least she didn't roll her eyes. I thanked her and quickly tapped the WIFI connection device and paid for my bounty with my credit card and I wheeled me way out the automatic doors to the wet parking lot and Bill waiting for me in our car. "Home James" as we always say to each other when we're returning to Casa Tipton-Kelly.

This morning I awoke to the sound of rain. Oh no. As regular readers of this blog know, I have a leak in our basement wall around the sewer pipe. No, not sewage (God forbid) but ground water from the outside. The sealant around the sewer pipe gave out. I've been trying to get it fixed for about two months now. The latest delay is the guy who is going to reseal it has COVID and he and his family is quarantined. COVID, at least I'm not traveling this weekend as are my friends Jack and Judy who traveled to California to visit they children and grandchildren. Twenty-five hundred flights cancelled since Christmas. God, can you imagine declining with THAT?

As you have probably surmised by now I have a new tact in blogging. I'm going to try and blog every day, sometimes about just mundane goings on around here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. Maybe an occasional rant and sometimes lists! I haven't done a list in quite a while. I'm ready for a list and I know you are.

One more thing.  While I was getting Bill ready for his day this morning (I have to change his Depends, massage his lower edema swollen legs, wash him, help to dress him), I noticed dried blood on his bald scalp. I asked him how did he do that. He said he was "pulling hairs out of his head."  Folks, Bill is bald but he has the occasional wayward hair that shoots out like an antenna (I have eyebrows that do that. Pat has them growing out of his ears.) So what does he do, this 93 year old man who is on blood thinner because he almost died last year because of four blood clots that traveled to his brain? He PULLS the hairs out. Oh God. Always something new.  

I have to be very careful when I explain to him NOT TO DO THAT or else he gets upset and starts crying and won't come out of his bedroom all day. Been there done that folks, not good. And just for fun he has some kind of skin condition on the inside of his left buttock (ass cheek). He wants me to  I explained to him that his hospice nurse gave me a special cream to put on it daily, I can't "take it out of there." I know sometimes I perform magic but even my abilities have a limit. 

Time to end this stream of conscientious before someone reports me to the Looney Bin Police. 

Just another day In The Life folks. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for my weekly 10:00 AM Zoom call with my friends Stuart, Larry and Pat. I have a new background (a video I took at Cape Henlopen). I want to show off to my friends.

Have a great day everyone and a fabulous new year