For several months now I've been playing Wordle, the New York times word game.
I'm not a crossword puzzle type of person (too difficult for my limited brain) but I am a "checkers" kind of guy. Chess? No way! Beyond my brain capacity.
I was reluctant to play Wordle when my friend Glenn M. suggested to join his group. But then Glenn always has good suggestions so I tried Wordle and viola! I love it!
It's easy. Just one game a day. You get six tries to try and figure out what the five letter word is for the day.
JUST ONE GAME A DAY!
The one game a day is a brilliant concept. I don't like to get tied up into something that goes on for days.
Of course I have heard about Wordle for a long time but I'm always reluctant to jump on the bandwagon for the last fad of the day. But this one is the exception. This fad is fun. Even Pope Bob (nee Pope Leo IV) plays Wordle every day.
What a great way to start out the day.
I understand that Carol Burnett is a master. She often gets Wordle in two tries and sometimes even ONE try (how do you do that?). Well, today I entered Carol Burnett territory, I got Wordle on my second try. I've done this before
A little easier getting he answer on my second try her on May 20, 2025 because I already guessed the first, third and fifth letter.
but this is the first time I only got one letter on my first try. Am I smart? Hardly! What I am is lucky. Also I am lucky to have the daily Wordle habit. Thanks Glenn!
By the way, I not always successful in getting daily Wordle, here is April 23, 2025 where I blew it.
I didn't go out all weekend because of the heavy traffic of Memorial Day visitors coming down Route One to Rehoboth Beach. I learned my lesson many years ago, when the visitors come down, stay home. It's pointless going out because of the clogged up roads. And now the roads are even worse because Cave Neck Road, my alternate road to go to Milton where I conduct most of my business, is closed down until at least August while DelDot repairs a bridge.
My other route to Milton is north on Route One (also known as Coastal Highway). That main artery has been under construction for this the third year while they build a bypass so visitors can take Route One down to Rehoboth Beach from Maine without one red-light. Yes, they're still working on that road which causes the backups like this video I posted today. I remember a couple of years ago while Bill and I were sitting in my our car and he asked "When do you think they'll finish this road?" I answered, correctly as it turned out, "Not in your lifetime." Now I'm beginning to think perhaps not in my lifetime. Ever since I moved down here to Delaware twenty years ago they've been working on Route One, which is the main artery. For years they were adding lanes to Route One. There used to be a grass medial strip. That's long gone now, just a memory. I think we have five lanes to Rehoboth Beach. By the way, after Memorial Day I do not go down to Rehoboth Beach. In fact I haven't been there in two months. Traffic just too heavy, not worth it.
I live in a pretty nice location right where I am now, my own little piece of Paradise. I do like to get out occasionally and see real people in person. I talk to Pat on FaceTime several times a day and see my neighbors but my interaction with real live people face to face consists of my visits to Food Lion, Pepper's Greenhouse, and my various doctors' appointments. Oh, I also interact with Jose, the guy who mows my lawn. He was just here this morning. It's not a bad life folks, it's my new routine.
It's my arthritis that is causing me to hunch over. I also stand crooked now. I did some AI research and found my condition is probably a combination of the arthritis and degenerative scoliosis. Bill had the same problem at the end. Although he wasn't hunched over like I am now. He just stood crooked. What's to be done? More exercise and paying more attention to my posture. But I am in constant pain on a scale of two to three.
I have arthritis in my joints. My right leg is particularly bad. It gave out yesterday while I was at my pond. Thank goodness I didn't fall in my pond. I did fall on my solar panel and broke the solar panel stand.
My legs are very weak. I have difficulty standing up from a sitting position. I see the looks of pity I get when I'm called from the waiting room from the other people waiting for their call. No one says anything, they just have "that look." The same look I used to have years ago when I saw an old vet try to rise from his seat at the waiting room at the Wilmington VA. I have to admit I was a little smug knowing that I could just bounce right up, and not struggle to get up like many of them. Now I am one of them. That's what I get for hanging around this life until I reached this advanced age of eighty-three.
Change of subject.
In a previous blog post I promised to update my blog more often but as you can see, I haven't kept that promise. There are a couple of reasons, the main one being that I'm pretty busy maintaining the Casa Tipton-Kelly wildlife sanctuary. I love working outside but it does have its downsides. One of the main ones now is avoiding ticks and mosquitos. I'm doing pretty good with avoiding mosquitos with my safari hat with the mosquito net but the ticks are another story. As many precautions that I take the little bastards still find a way to embed their very tiny little heads into my body.
I change my clothes after working outside and take a show but still they manage. This past Sunday I had to visit my local walk-in clinic to have one of those tick heads removed from my left shoulder. I removed the tick about three years ago but my shoulder was still bothering me. I could see the inflamed part where the little fucker was embedded. I was embarrassed to go to the walk-in clinic for such a minor thing but I just was tired of the pain in my shoulder. Thank goodness the nurse practitioner found the tick head and removed it. I could feel immediate relief. Then something funny happened, when I left the clinic it was so windy outside that something blew into my eye. I didn't fully realize it until I got home. I thought I could take care of it myself but no, it wasn't going away. This new clinic is located on the outskirts of Milton, near a large empty field. Must have been one of the many seeds of plants.
I put drops in my eyes but that didn't do any good. I was hoping when I went to sleep and woke up in the morning it would be gone but no. Whatever was in my eye wasn't going away. Okay, back to the walk-in clinic. I was embarrassed to be returning the next day but there it is. I HAD TO GET THIS THING out of my eye. And sure enough, there was a "stringy thing" that the nurse practitioner found. Relief! I pay enough for my health insurance so why not go to the walk-in clinic? By the way, aren't they great? Remember the bad old days? If things got really bad you had to go to the emergency room. And God knows I've been to the emergency room enough since I've moved to Delaware.
These days I'm often down in the dumps because I still miss Bill terribly. Thank God for Pat who I talk to several times daily on FaceTime and my friend Glenn in Palm Springs who I talk to on Zoom.
Me, Pat and Glenn in Palm Springs February 16, 2025
Such good friends who care for me as I care a great deal for them. And remember Glenn also lost his long time partner Michael. Ironically I met both of these good friends through my blog, indirectly. Neither one reads my blog. Glenn's late partner always used to read my blot and Pat only contacted me through my blog after he did an Internet search. He saw a photo of me on the news testifying before the Delaware State Legislature for same sex marriage. He was intrigued. I think it was fate that caused both he and Glenn to come together with me. I think both of us are part of the same spirit group. Yes, I do believe we live many lives. Since Bill died I've read up a lot on what happens after we die. Yes, I am convinced that Pat, Glenn and I are of the same spirit group. These spirit groups consist of three to seven spirits. I also think my longtime friend Renee
Renee sitting in my chair in my office at First Financial Bank 2000.
is in our group. She lost her husband a month after I lost Bill. We stay in constant touch these days, still offering each other support. I used to work with Renee at a bank in Downingtown. When I left she took my job. I haven't seen her in person for twenty-five years (we worked together in 2000) but we stay in touch. First time I saw her I knew there was a special connection which I didn't understand at first because I'm gay and she's not. She also felt that special connection. Renee is much younger than me (she's forty-seven now). She was so in love with her husband Tom and was devastated when he died. He was much older than her. I was so happy for her when they got married. She often posted pictures of her and Tom to Facebook of their adventures. Thus I was shocked that a month after Bill died, I found out from Facebook that her husband died.
Renee and Tom
I think we're all in this life to learn. Dealing with the loss of someone we loved so much is part of that learning. As for me, losing her Tom has been such a trial for Renee as it has been for me losing Bill. Renee took a different route though. She sold the house she and Tom lived in Pennsylvania and made a fresh start in Florida, near her mother. I will never leave this house that Bill and I shared alive. There is too much of Bill here and I would never leave this house, our home.
I have to admit I've had quite a life. And it's not over yet. There is the "little" matter of me and Pat getting married. Here is an update on that situation, Pat has submitted his paperwork to the American Consulate in Montreal. Now he awaits them to contact him for an interview for final approval of our marriage. Once that happens we have ninety days to get married. Then when that happens my life will take a whole new direction.
Life goes on!
Look at me with all these women, my co-workers at First Financial Bank in Downingtown, PA in 2000. Renee is on the far left.
This is a picture of my father, Isaac "Ike" Tipton, Sr. taken in August of 1990 at his three and a half acre home outside of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. This picture has nothing to do with this blog posting but I came across it while looking for another more appropriate picture for this posting but I found this one intriguing. We had a complicated relationship which I've written about often in this blog. I will write more about that relationship in future posts. I don't think he ever liked me and the feeling was mutual but he was my father. Ironically I am a lot like him much to my chagrin. I even look like him!
Yesterday I had my long awaited appointment with my ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist. Yes, I have all those problems.
Remember when I wrote about my left ear plugged up after my trip back from California? I thought I was going to be in that condition for the rest of my life. Well, thank goodness my ear is clear now. I can hear out of it, with the help of my hearing aids, perfectly now.
When I initially went to the doctor the ENT center, they discovered I had a dried blood in my inner ear which was causing the "plugged" sound. They scheduled a CAT-SCAN for me. Yesterday I got the results. Turns out the dried blood has dissipated. I was curious and asked "Where did it go?" thinking do I have dried blood flecks floating around in my brain. She (I forget her name) looked at me bemused and said "It just goes away." Oh, okay (I guess). The important thing is that I can hear now! I told her about my ear problem every time I fly in a plane. She said a blood vessel had probably burst because of the pressure, which prevented my ear drum from bursting. Well, when I heard that information I told her "That does it! I'm not flying anymore!"
This short video was taken September 6, 2016 on a flight back from Toronto Canada to the Philadelphia International Airport. I was visiting Pat.
In my life I've been very lucky in that I've never had an earache but I do have trouble with my ears when I have flown. I absolutely cannot fly in unpressurized planes which I have done several times in my younger days. Low flights are all right but higher up the pressure kills my ears. The pain is so intense. This last flight the pain was so bad I thought I was going to pass out. And now with all the problems with airport safety and delays, I have a final reason never to fly again. Remember my last flight when I missed the connection in Phoenix to Palm Springs? And the expense! It costs me almost a thousand dollars for all that aggravation just to be squeezed into an airplane seat next to who knows who. Twice now I've sat next to a Middle Eastern young man who reeked of sweat. I'm thinking "What am I going to do if this guy is a terrorist and springs into action to take over the plane with his cohorts?" All kinds of crazy things are going though my mind. I don't need that stress folks in addition to maneuvering around airports looking for my gate number.
Pat still wants to go to Palm Springs every year in February for Modernism Week. I told her we could drive (Pat's a good driver) but he's not too keen on that. For once I would like to experience Middle America. All my life I've lived and worked on the East Coast, including the three years I was in the Army (New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland). I was born and grew up in Pennsylvania and now am living my twilight years in Delaware. The only time I've been anyplace else is when I've visited California and one memorable weekend took a plane trip to Cleveland for a disastrous weekend with a buy named "Lenny" who I met in a bar in Philadelphia. That was in 1979. I don't think I've written about that weekend in this blog. Maybe I have. I've never forgotten that disaster. But I digress.
I told Pat that if he wants to fly to Palm Springs next year that he can go by himself. I'll share his experience vicariously via FaceTime. That's how we share our lives now anyway while we await the American Consulate in Montreal to interview him so he can get the final approval for us to get married. Long sentence there. Bottom line is I'm not flying anymore. So there.
Now it's time for my weeklong visit to the Restore Thrift Store, the highlight of my week these days.
P. S.
At this time of my life since I'm so near to my Final Exit, I often wondered will I see my father again? I know I'll see Bill because he's with me everyday in spirit. He often communicates to me by mental telepathy. Bill is waiting for me as are all my friends but will those that I wasn't so fond of be there? Something to wonder about.
I didn't plan it this way, it's just the way it's turned out since the nice weather and I'm in my backyard most of the day.
I thought I would miss working at the hotel (actually I do) but since I'm not working (I told my boss I was ready to come back but I never got a return call), I'm devoting all my time to taking care of Casa Tipton-Kelly. As I have said many times before in this format (I've been blogging since we moved down here to Delaware twenty years ago), I'm never leaving Casa Tipton-Kelly alive. Thus I'm devoting all my remaining time to making my almost one acre lot into my oasis. In that I am doing well. Of course I continue to miss Bill every day and will for the rest of my life but that is all part of my Life's Journey this time around. Oh yes, I believe we have many lives. This life I've lead for the past eighty-three years is just one of them.
My big project this year was to keep my backyard pond clear of algae. I was losing the battle up until three weeks ago when I decided to order an electric pond filter. And I am glad I did. Now my pond is clearing up and I have the algae under control. I also have a constant flow of water in my pond which seems to keep my fish and plants happy. Keeps me happy too!
The other project is my grass. It is very nice this year. My lawn has recovered from a brutal attack of a few years ago of Army worms. I hope I never see them again. I mow my lawn every other week and my local landscaper guy (Jose) mows it on the weeks I don't mow. This seems to work out well. I can afford every other week and on the weeks I mow, I feel like I'm accomplishing something.
How is my life going otherwise? Pat is almost in the final stage prior to his interview at the American Consulate in Montreal for him to get his K-1 VISA card so we can get married. He's already been to the police station and got fingerprinted. Funny thing, that's what Pat used to do when he worked for the Toronto Police Department, he was a fingerprint analyst. Now we're awaiting for the American Consulate to contact Pat for The Interview.
I continue to be very concerned with the direction our country is going in with the Trump Clown Show. Trump took a perfectly good economy that he inherited from Biden and screwed it up with his stupid tariffs. Trump and his enablers and cohorts continue to push the limits of the law to see how much they can get away with, which appears to be a lot. Trump and his Ice thugs are basically lawless now, arresting judges and mayors. Just a matter of time until they up the ante and start arresting major political figures. Think I'm exaggerating? Just watch. Also, it's just a matter of time until he invokes Martial Law once the demonstrations against his lawlessness becomes too much for those Americans who aren't part of the Trump Brainwashed. I have many sleepless nights folks thinking about what's to come.
One good piece of news. Pope Bob or as his new name Pope Leo IV. How refreshing to hear a pope speak understandable English unlike previous popes who spoke that fractured English you could hardly understand and I know they didn't understand. At least I can leave this life without having to hear THAT strangled English when the Pope gives his annual Christmas blessing. No, I'm not Catholic but I was raised a Christian (Baptist). I don't practice man-made organized religion these days because I was radicalized by a Pentecostal minister screaming red faced, frothing at the mouth hatred towards "YOU ARE ALL SINNERS!" and especially towards gay folks (we're damed to hell unless we change our sinful ways). Listening and watching Pope Bob makes me feel good and gives me a sense of serenity. I'm a spiritualist I guess. I believe in an Afterlife. I am convinced our spirit ascends somewhere after it leaves our tired old bodies. I also believe that I will be reunited with Bill and my friends and family and even my beloved pets. I don't need some minister screaming hatred at me to ascent to Heaven.
Health wise I'm doing pretty good except for my walking. My arthritis is progressing faster than I would like. I can envisioned the day when I can no longer walk. I hope that day is far away but I don't know. I used to be able to walk and walk and walk. Not these days though, I am limited. My whole body is stiff, especially when I wake up in the morning.
I consider myself lucky though. I have my vision and I can swallow food without difficulty. Two things that Bill couldn't do the remaining years of his life. As much as I miss Bill now I know he is so happy where he is now, Heaven. He is with his family, friends and his beloved pets. Bill and I had quite a journey in our fifty-nine years together and I will always consider myself blessed to have spent that time with this loving an unselfish man. Did we have our "moments"? You bet! But our love never diminished all the years we were together, getting stronger every year and especially the last three years of his life when I was blessed to be his caregiver.
Thus on this Sunday, Mother's Day, I have ended my latest rambling diatribe on my blog.
March has come and gone and here we are, almost at the end of April.
I must say we're having a wonderful spring here at Casa Tipton-Kelly in southern coastal Delaware.
Too often in years past the transition from the winter cold to the heat and humidity of summers on the Delmarva peninsula is only interrupted by two or three days of spring like weather. This year is different. Many nice spring weather days. Today was one of them.
I usually go out early in the morning and attend to my backyard maintenance. I know now that I'll never be completely caught up but I do what I can. I'm limited by my arthritic eighty-three year old body. I work, often in pain from my joints and middle back, until I feel myself winding down. I've learned over the past few years to ration out my physical exertion. Seems to work well for me.
Some years ago I gave up on the project of keeping Casa Tipton-Kelly perfectly manicured. Now I just do the basics like mowing the grass every other week, Jose my local landscaper mows my grass on the weeks when I don't. Jose or his helper weed whacks, something I absolutely cannot do with my back.
Life is settling into a comfortable routine here. Of course I still miss Bill, especially on days like this because he would sit in his favorite chair on our deck and nap while I toiled in our backyard. These days he's often with me but in spirit only.
I'm managing to control my expenses. I have to learn to live on my retirement and Social Security alone. Of course I'm worried about what Trump and his billionaire friends are going to do to Social Security. They're eying all that money and they want it. Don't kid yourself. At least that immigrant from South Africa is stepping back now from his chainsaw disruption now that his Tesla stock is crashing. Fuck him.
As you probably noticed I haven't been updating my blog on a regular basis. I also haven't been updating my journal. I still make an effort, both in the blog and journal. I don't want to stop completely. It's just that my attention is elsewhere and I'm tired. I am so tired.
This week I'm watching my neighbor's cat. They took a spring break to Jamaica, where my ancestor Jonathan Tipton came from in 1692 after the Great Earthquake of 1692 destroyed his rum barrel stave making business in Port Royale, Jamaica. These days I'm a little worried that if Trump and his thugs (Stephen Miller) check my social postings they may deny me entry back into the United States. They'll figure out a way to ship my ass back to Jamaica.
Still waiting for Pat to get approval from the American Consulate in Montreal for us to get married. I hope all this vitriol between us and our former best friend Canada doesn't ruin me and Pat getting married and spending our twilight years together.
On this date thirteen years ago I took Bill to the Dover Mall. He wanted to check some things at the Radio Shack store, one of his favorite places to visit. We arrived early and had to wait until the stores opened. Bill was eighty-three years old when I took these photos. I am eighty-three years old now. He's moving around in this photos much better than I am now. Time goes by so fast. Thirteen years from now all we will be is a vague memory to most. However, this video will live on forever. That's why I post them.
