Food Delivery

 

My BJ's bounty delivered yesterday at my front door

The cold snap continues!

It was so cold yesterday that I decided for the first time to take advantage of a food delivery service. 

Once a month I drive the fifteen miles to BJ's Wholesale in Millsboro. BJ's is our version of Costco, a much scaled down version but an economical way to buy in bulk. 

In past years the drive to BJ's was also an excuse to take Bill for a long ride through the southern Delaware countryside, one of the few times he said we could be totally together. Even though we lived together all those years (59), around the house I was either outside gardening or in my home office updating my blog or other computer related activities. Since Bill died, that fifteen mile trip is now just another risk to getting into an accident because of the ever increasing traffic and the constant road construction in southern Delaware. Year round, almost all roads, are under construction. That's a subject for another blog posting.

The past two weeks, ever since it snowed, we have been in a freezer box. The frozen snow is still on the ground, covered in ice just waiting for someone (me) to slip and fall on it. Perhaps my biggest fear these days, falling and putting myself out of independent living. I was running low on hummus and tissues, two items I go through rather frequently. I really didn't want to make the trek to Millsboro, where BJ's is located fifteen miles away. Their parking lot is huge and I usually park quite a distance away from the entrance. I also stop in PetsMart to see what kitties are up for adoption. I'm not going to adopt a cat but I do like to visit. I just couldn't picture myself hobbling around in all that windy cold air yesterday with wind chill factors down to zero degrees. So I took advantage of BJ's offer to have my items delivered. Well, I'm here to tell you it worked out great! Not only did I save on gas and more exposure to having an automobile accident (crazy drivers down here in Lower Slower), the charge was minimal. A $9.99 service fee for the shopping, a calculated tip for the driver ("Melissa" in my delivery yesterday - I gave her an extra five dollars just because she had to endure an icy walk on my walkway to my front door), and the delivery charge was free because I spent over $100. Now I'm stocked up on hummus (I get the big party tubs, those expensive little containers at my nearby supermarket only last a few days for me), and toilet tissue. 

Nice to know that I can fall back on home delivery should I become disabled and not be able to drive anymore. My local supermarket also offers the same service. That home delivery service really took off during COVID. Also, where I live her in southern Delaware has a large population of older seniors like me, many of whom can't drive anymore. Those seniors like me was to spend the rest of our days on this earth in our own home rather than some facility that drains us of our lifetime accumulation of capital and then ships us off to some state run warehouse for death. Not the route I want or will go. 

These days one of my primary goals is to continue to live in my own home independently. Yesterday was further evidence that I will be able to accomplish that goal.

No Heat In The House!

 

Propane gas leak on my furnace

Yesterday I had my annual service call for my furnace. 

Bad news!

I have to replace the furnace.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Damn! 

This is the second furnace I've had to replace since I moved here in 2006.

The service company I use will be here tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM and I'm told they will be finished by 2:30 PM. 

There goes that day.

Well, at least they're not coming today in the rain. Yes, it is raining now. 

Well, at least it's not snowing. That's what I always think and say when I have bad news:

"It could be worse!"

The reason my furnace has to be replace is a propane gas leak. Check out the photo above. 

For my own safety the serviceman had to turn off my furnace thus I am sitting here right now typing this blog entry next to my space heater. 

My whole house is cold! 

It could be worse!

At least the really cold temperatures of the past month are gone. Still cold though, about thirty-five degrees outside and sixty degrees here in my house.

There is other news. I hate to conflate subject matter on my blog posts but I have to share the latest update about Pat's tiny house approval here at Casa Tipton-Kelly.

Yesterday I called my HOA president (who coincidentally moved here from Canada - what are the odds?) and it seems my HOA bylaws have to change for Pat to place his tiny home. I have to write a request and give it to the HOA board. They in turn will review my request and submit it to a vote of the homeowners in my development. If I get a two thirds vote then the bylaws are changed and Pat can place his tiny home here in my backyard. Fortunately our annual HOA meeting is going to be held (via Zoom)

Hey folks! The heat is back on!

The service guys finishing up putting my new furnace in this afternoon. An all day job.

I've been without heat for two days and nights. That's enough!

The service guys came early (7 AM) this morning. The left abut 3 o'clock. I now have a new furnace and it is beautiful and warm!

The heat is back on and I love it!

More about this latest drama in my life in a future blog post. I'm too tired now. I didn't get my daily nap. Ig is 6:20 PM now and I'm falling asleep but I can't go to  bed now because I'll be up at 2 AM tomorrow morning. My schedule may be disrupted but I have heat at Casa Tipton-Kelly again. 

Ah, warm heat. 

Way Too Cold

Downingtwon train station - I used to stand near the yellow line on the left waiting for my daily commute train to Philadelphia - this photo was taken on a warmer day. On cold winter days, that was a brutal place to stand and wait for the train - I'll never forget those painful days

A fierce cold has descended upon much of our country, especially in the Midwest. 

The temperature now is 15 degrees. I saw on the TV news tonight some areas in the Midwest are experience 45 degrees below zero, and that's not wind chill.  

Bill came in my headquarters (my home office, which I transformed our smallest bedroom into) and asked if he should turn the water off.  He's afraid that our pipes would freeze in these cold temperatures.  I told him no, don't worry about it.  If there was a danger I'm sure I wouldn't have received warnings from our electric power service and NextDoor app.  We're doing just fine here at our cozy, warm home.  I am so glad I went with gas (propane) heat when I had our house built. In Pennsylvania we had electric power.  Very, very expensive and that heat pump just ran and ran when it got this cold.  Of course propane gas isn't cheap either but it's more economical than electric heat.  Plus, I find gas heat more comfortable than electric heat.

On cold sunny days like this my bedroom, with four windows facing both south and west, enjoy sumptuous solar heat. That was an accident. I didn't plan positioning our house that way, a lucky coincidence. My daily afternoon naps in my solar warmed bedroom are so comforting, especially when the wind is whipping around just outside my bedroom windows. 

On cold days like this I remember those days when I used to stand on a train platform in Downingtown for my daily commute to my job in Philadelphia. I used to stand in the old fashion train station until someone burned it down. Then the railroad replaced the burned out train station with one of those glass enclosures that sort of stop some of the wind but still so very cold. I'm glad those days are behind me.  

If you're in a cold part of the country, stay inside folks and keep warm.  Don't tempt fate.  Spring is coming!

Trapped By The Cold and Snow and Ice

Our sun drenched living room yesterday - nice passive solar heat and with help from our gas propane fireplace which we leave on most of the day during cold snaps like we're having now

Yes, we're still trapped by the cold (five degrees this morning), snow and ice. 

We haven't been out in our car since I returned Wednesday night after 10 o'clock, just as this winter snowstorm (snowmageddon) was dropping a foot of snow on our bucolic home.

Bill was out yesterday chipping away at the ice near our garage. I have to get out tomorrow to work at the hotel.

The temperatures are forecast to rise later this week, all the way up to 61 degrees on Thursday. We can only hope! I've had enough of the snow and ice and cold. 

This kind of weather is unusual for us here on the coastal shore of the southern Delmarva peninsula. Usually, if we get snow it's just a dusting that goes away the next day.  But ever few years we get a dumping of snow like we had this past week. I hope this is the last of the snow for the winter.

Rain is also forecast for Thursday when the temperatures are rising to 61 degrees. Wash that snow away and back to normal.

California is a few days closer to my arrival.

Housebound Ron - relaxing for a few minutes yesterday in my wing chair

Relapse (Temporary)

Bill brining up food for me from our basement freezer - what would I do without Bill?

Late yesterday my flu symptoms (sneezing, aches, fatigue, congestion) came back with a vengeance.  

I had seven huge sneezes in the space of two minutes.  You know what that sneezing indicated don't you?  Your body trying to expel those germs (or virus) or whatever.  All I know was that I was feeling lousy again and I went back to bed after my first decent meal in two days, beef stew.  

The last two days I've eaten nothing but Campbell's and Progresso chicken soup.  I really feel the chicken soup consumption lessened my flu symptoms but man oh man, did they come back last night.

I didn't want to go to bed at 7 o'clock.  I wanted to watch a movie but wasn't in the mood for a bloody, revenge movie "Blue Ruin" (what I had on tap from my Netflix DVD) so I pulled up my saved DVR "Downton Abbey."  I needed some real escapist diversion.  I wasn't in the mood for guns and gore last night. I had no more "Judge Judy" and I wasn't in the mood for the plasticity of Patti Stanger and "Millionaire Matchmaker" (can only take so much of that Hollywood glitz and glamor phoniness of so-called millionaires).  

I had saved last season of "Downton Abbey" and was saving this season but to my dismay I saw that last season was gone.  I guess when my DVR saves a new season, the previous season is wiped out.  

So I watched it anyway, missing the whole of season four.  Guess what?  It only took me a few minutes to catch up that Lady Mary is involved in yet another pre wedlock affair, Thomas is still struggling with his homosexuality and still an unsympathetic character, Mr. Bates is still being hounded 

Les Misérables style, Daisy is still trying to better herself by book learning, Lord Grantham is still strutting around like a cock rooster and best of all, Dame Maggie Smith is still playing Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham. So many reasons to watch this wonderful show but Dame Maggie is the best.  I hear she probably won't be in next season (if there is) which is a shame because Dame Maggie "Weekend? What's a weekend"?" if Dame Maggie goes I fear there go the raison d'être for me watching this show.

Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess on "Downton Abbey". Superb!

So where am I going with this post?  It was supposed to be all about my convalescing and I get diverted off to the very talented Dame Maggie Smith.

Well folks, I feel a lot better this morning.  My flu like symptoms seem to be gone (finally) now.  

This morning was Shower Day.  Every third day I take off my leg brace and take a shower, an exhausting challenge for sure (try it sometime when you injure your leg).  

I still can't bend my knee nor lift my lower leg but I was able to get in and out of the shower (one little step up in and same out) easier than I have before.  

Of course sitting here at my computer desk is still very uncomfortable with my left leg extended out so I'm going to end this little missive shortly.  

The photo at the top is Bill coming upstairs (he lives in our finished basement), bringing me food (frozen beef stew in individual boiling bags) last night.  I cannot go up or downstairs.  Thank goodness again I decided to live on one floor when I moved to Delaware, in anticipation of getting old and immobilized like I am now.

I feel like I'm rambling so I will end but not before reminding one and all I have my appointment tomorrow at 2:40 PM with my orthopedic surgeon.  He has the results of my MRI that I had taken last Monday.  I'll find out what the extent of the damage is to my left leg and how long it will take to heal.  I'm hoping no surgery will be necessary.  What a mess this has been.  Again, I cannot stress enough, be very careful when walking about outside in icy and unsafe conditions.  You could end up like me.

Out of Gas!

Emergency gas delivery this morning - thank goodness!

This morning I awoke to discover I was out of gas. No, not THAT kind of gas but propane gas to heat the house.

Bill (who gets up earlier than I do) informed me "the heater's not working."  I noticed that there was a chill in the house.  So here we go, more drama.  Already today I have scheduled to have the Safelite Autoglass repairman come and replace my damaged window shield.  What else can happen?

First things first, heat.  I call my propane gas company with is appropriately named "Poore's Propane" (what you are after you pay the gas bill).  I get a women on the phone who I can hardly understand.  She talking low and has that "girl" accent (squeaky) and a southern Delaware accent.  The Perfect Storm.

She advises me to check the meter on the buried tank outside. The cold outside.  Meter?  Where is that?  Another learning curve for Ron.  

I go outside (haven't eaten breakfast yet, I love these emergencies while I'm still half asleep in the cold), with my portable phone and look to open the lid to the propane gas tank.  Still trying to decipher Miss Valley Girl, I see a meter.  I twist my head and see that that the arrow is pointing to 5%.  Ummmmmm, she says it should be at least 50%.  Well, la de da, what do you know?  I'm out of gas.

She tells me she will put in an emergency call and the service man will be out this morning.  I HOPE SO.  The service man from Safelite Autoglass repair is coming out this afternoon to replace my cracked window shield. Thank goodness I screwed that appointment up yesterday because I had originally schedule for that guy to come out this morning.  I have a nice sized driveway but it's not big enough for both a propane gas truck and the Safelite van.  Mr. Needs a Lot of Service guys here.

I go back into the house and have breakfast and try to stay warm.  Thank goodness it wasn't really cold outside or there was snow.  The temperature this morning was 36 degrees.  Inside the house it was about 60 degrees but dropping.  Definitely chilly.

Another "thank goodness": I'm glad this didn't happen when I was out in Los Angeles which is where I will be next week.  Bill doesn't know what to do or who to call in situations like this.  I keep things running around here. My default position in life, Mr. Operations Guy. Some people are rock musicians, some others con artists insurance salesmen. Me, I keep the clocks running.

So the heat is on now folks and feeling mighty good.  I await my Safelite auto repairman while I try to get caught up on my e-mails and bill paying and blog entries.  

Just another day in the Life of Ron folks.

Morning Surprise

How I feel this morning ( and probably look too even down to the "peninsula" hair

Uh oh. I woke up this morning feeling weak. 

Runny nose. 

Sneezing.  

Achy limbs.

Uh oh.

Last year for the first time in many years I didn't have a "cold" (or flu - I can never tell which is which, only that I feel lousy for several days).  

I'm embarrassed to admit I was experiencing schadenfruede (a pleasure derived from the misfortune of others) talking to my two best friends Lar and Pat on FaceTime as they suffered through TWO colds (flu?) last winter.

Folks, I'm about to be bitten in the arse.

I think I have a COLD coming on.  

I took my COLD-EZ tablet this morning in probably a vain attempt to ward off the worsening effects of this cold (flu).  

One more day work today then I collapse this weekend and work through this cold.

One thing I am thankful for, that this cold isn't coming on right as I begin a work shift at the hotel.  

Another thing I'm thankful for, that we don't have that "Buffalo Snow" down here in Lower Slower (Sussex County, Delaware).  The temperatures have dropped but thankfully, NO SNOW and the sun is out.  

After tonight, rest and relax Ron and get through this FIRST cold of the season.  There are more to come I'm sure.  

Fighting Off a Cold

Cold Ron (note, please don't use this as your Facebook profile picture without my permission)

This is the first year I can remember since we moved to Delaware in November of 2006 that I haven't had a cold.  

In my Flaming Youth I never got colds.  I remember there were times I wish I had a cold so I could get out of school.  One time, when I was twelves years old, I even foolishly cavorted around outside in the cold winter air hoping  to get a cold. Didn't happen.  I was always healthy as a horse.  The only school days I ever missed was because I was quarantined because of one of my brothers' illnesses.  I even missed my sixth grade class trip to Washington D.C. because my brothers John and Isaac had scarlet fever.  This was back in the Fifties when our doctor (Dr. Neff, who actually visited your home with his black bag, imagine that) slapped a big red quarantined sign on the door to our cockroach infested apartment at 120 Washington Avenue in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. 

All the years I worked at the bank in Philadelphia, I never got a cold until the last few years.  I remember one time riding the train in and another passenger sneezed on the back of my neck.  Two days later I had a cold you wouldn't believe. 

Of course I tried to work through the cold and continued to go to work.  This wasn't school days I was trying to miss.  I had a lot of responsibility and just couldn't afford to miss any work.  Didn't do me any good though, I was useless at work.  In addition to spreading germs willy nilly, I just didn't have any energy.  I remember going home on the train, I was ensconced in the back seat of the train, sniffling, sneezing and aching all over.  When I head the conductor yell "Downingtown!" I just couldn't move.  I wanted to stay on that train and go wherever it was going to take me.  I wanted to die.  

Since moving to Delaware, I've caught at least two big colds a year.  Two years ago I had a cold so bad that I went to the doctor's for the first time in my life.  I was so congested that I was afraid if I went to sleep I wouldn't wake up.  Turns out it was a good thing I did because my doctor told me that my left lung had filled up and if I had waited much longer I would have pneumonia.  That scared me.  

That diagnosis reminded me of a 31 year old co-worker of mine when I worked at Girard Bank.  He was a very active guy and like me, he wasn't going to let a few sniffles stop him from going to work and playing ice hockey after work.  The next day he didn't come into work.  I asked "Where's Rich?"  I was told "Oh, didn't you hear?"  I said "No, what happened?"  I was told "After he finished his hockey game after work he went home. They found him dead in his car which was parked in his driveway. The doctor said he had 'walking pneumonia."  Well folks, I had never heard of walking pneumonia before but I never forgot that incident.  

So folks, about three times this season when I felt a cold coming on I took a shot of freshly squeezed orange juice and a Cold EeZe table (which doesn't taste all that great by the way).

So far so good except for last night.  About four hours into my shift at the hotel I got the nose running like a spigot (or "faucet" for my Canadian readers). Oh uh, COLD.COMING.ON.  

Last night I slept like the dead.  This morning I had an early appointment at my dermatologist (yes, more slicing and dicing Ron - this time to scrap a keratosis patch off of my left side under my arm - why it's there I have NO IDEA).  

My dermatologist's office - my home away from home

Right now I'm updating this blog but shortly I will have lunch then REST.  Thank God today is sunny, no snow (YES!) and we have power, unlike so many of my fellow citizens just to the north of us here in LSD.  

I'm thankful I don't have to go into work until next Tuesday.  I'm going to spend the next two or three days here at Casa Tipton-Kelly, nursing this cold.  It's all good folks, I have a nice, solar warmed, sunny bedroom. And that's where I'll be if anyone is looking for me.  

Have a great day!

My lair

Arising From The Dead

A "Toon" picture I took of myself at work during the height of my COLD
Not a pretty picture

How do you like that for a catchy title?  Got your attention, right?

Folks that's how I feel now; like I've arisen from the dead.  Regular followers of this blog (and you know who you are) know that I've been absent from the blogosphere for a couple of days. About three days to be precise which is very unusual for me.  

So where have I been?  Mostly sleeping, trying to shake this Zombie Cold.  Wednesday I slept all day.  Thursday I slept all day.  Today, I arose from the dead.  

This cold came on just as I was about to begin an "enhanced" work schedule at the hotel last weekend into New Year's.  In past years when I've felt a cold coming on, I've been lucky that the worst of the cold occurred during my time off.  I wasn't so lucky this time.  The full brunt of this cold hit me Sunday night.  I literally lost my voice.  Not a good thing when one works at the front desk of a hotel.  The most I could get out was a squeak.  Plus, I felt LOUSY.  Not so much with the runny nose and coughing, but just TIRED and ACHY all over.  

I struggled through Monday, New Year's Eve.  I could talk but I sounded like Lurch of the Adams Family.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have a delightful, boyish tone to my voice.  THAT voice was nowhere to be found New Year's Eve.

New Year's day I continued to slog through the day with my Lurch Voice.  One caller really gave me a workout asking me to describe every room in the hotel then once I did that she wanted to do it all over again.  Hey, I like talking but this was painful.  I had to decline.  She said she would call in the morning.

Wednesday I got relief.  I got up for a breakfast of Walmart Multigrain cereal (taste like dust but has a load of vitamins) and a banana.  Then back to BED THE WHOLE DAY.

I got up for lunch with was just chicken soup then back to bed.  Popcorn and Canada Dry Ginger Ale for dinner (don't ask, this works for me).  

I repeated this procedure on Thursday.  Now phlegm that was coating my vocal cords was beginning to break up.  I was coughing up the Hulk (same color green).  TMI?  Just telling it like it is.  

What I was coughing up

This morning when I woke up I actually felt half way human again and I had my voice back, albeit with a lesbian like hoarseness.  Actually, I think I sort of sounded sexy.  

I'm still feeling blah, not my usual ornery self.  I've lost about five pounds.  What a way to lose weight.  I wouldn't recommend it.  

I figure by the time I go back to work on Sunday I'll be back to the Old Ron and have my youthful, Philly Twang voice back.  

My annual cold has come and gone.  

Soon to return!

Laid Low

Where I will be in a few minutes - my bed resting before I go to work tonight

Still struggling here with this Zombie Cold folks.  I got through my shift at the hotel last night, without too much wheezing and sneezing. Under normal circumstances I would call in sick but these are not normal circumstances.  Just my luck this Zombie Cold  is hitting me at the end of the year.

I was hesitant to do another post about my cold but I just can't think of anything else.  I'm pretty sure this is the flu because I ache all over.  When I woke up this morning in my bed I could hardly move, every joint in my body ached.  Well, every one but one.  

Bill drove me down to the Rehoboth Walmart earlier this morning.  I loaded up on Cold Eaze, chicken soup, and Zicam.  I don't know if these cold remedies are really helping me or just prolonging my misery.

Hey folks, sorry to be such a wet rag with this constant complaining.  I can't wait until I'm up to snuff again.  I work tonight and tomorrow night.

  Happy New Year!

Me, on the floor, New Year's Eve - 1963

Still a Sick Puppy

Yep, still a sick puppy here, albeit a very old sick puppy.

Chicken soup (Campbell's) - Cold Remedy

I'm still trying to shake this cold/flu. I think it is the flu because my whole body aches and I just feel lousy.  I have a dry cough and am lightheaded (more than usual).  

I managed to get through my shift at the hotel last night with minimal sneezing and wheezing.  Of course I didn't look too good but it's hard to tell the difference when one is looking good or not at 71 years of age.  Yes, yes; there I go with the "old man" stuff again but hey, it is what it is.  I'm no spring chicken and when these colds (or flues) come a visiting me, it's harder and harder (now stop that!) to shake them off.  When I was younger, I just ignored colds and such.  Not now folks, my annual visit from the cold and flu demons slow Old Ron down a bit and this time is no exception.

Chicken Soup With Crackers - Dinner tonight - Yum!

Yesterday I loaded up on Zicam, the zinc cold remedy and that really seemed to help.  Today I had chicken soup for lunch and for dinner.  Yep, that's all....chicken soup; what a way to go on a diet.  I did want to lose about five lbs. of blub around my middle but not this way.  

Tonight I'm going to also take Vicks NyQuil before I go to bed so I won't wake up with a mouth that feels like a platoon of soldiers walked through it with muddy combat boots. NyQuil seemed to help out my friend Lar, who I am pretty sure gave me this cold while we were having our daily FaceTime chat a few days ago. 

What's going to get me through the night tonight

As I said, I'm pretty sure I have the flu which I seem to get every year regardless of whether or not I get a flu shot.  Maybe next year I'll forgo the flu shot.  Hmmmm....let me think about that.  Maybe not.  If I forego my annual VA administered flu shot I'll probably end up with the cold to beat all colds.  Best not take a chance.  

I did get a break at work.  I was supposed to work tomorrow during the day but my co-worker offered to work for me.  This gives me a chance to take another two hour afternoon nap.  That's what I did yesterday which gave me enough rest to get through the night.  However, I do have to go to work tomorrow night and then Monday and Tuesday.  But, another break, I won't have to fill in for my other co-worker on Wednesday; he will take his shift back.  For a while there they had me working six days in a row.  Me, a part-time (two nights a week) hotel front desk clerk.  Ask me the last time I worked a month (four weeks in a row) only two nights a week.  If your answer is "not in the last year" you would be right.  So much for "part-time" work.  Let's just say I'm a substitute front desk clerk, that would be a more accurate job description for old decrepit Ron.

Me sitting on the porch at Brandywine Senior Living where my friends Bob and Jim reside now - don't I look "at home?"

Ron's Sick!

Me at Brandywine Hospital April 14, 2002 after a kidney stone attack (with my Mom)

Hey folks!  I'm feeling a bit under the weather.  I feel my annual cold coming on.  I think I caught it yesterday from my FaceTime friend Larry.  He was sneezing and wheezing and coughing the whole time I was talking to him yesterday on FaceTime.  I just KNEW I would catch his cold!

My Friend Lar spreading his germs to me yesterday during out FaceTime session

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have some chicken soup for lunch and take my afternoon nap.  

I'll be back when I'm feeling up to my usual ornery self.  Hang in there.

Brad - An Old Affair Remembered

Brad waiting for the bus (with our luggage) on a Provincetown, Mass. St. July 1980

Yep, I still have my cold.  It seems to morph through different stages like a Michael Jackson video.  I just hope I don't end up the way he did in his "Thriller" video, a werewolf!  I felt like one when I woke up this morning.


Maybe some of you are wondering what the picture above has to do with this blog posting.  Well, here's the deal folks.  I have literally THOUSANDS of photos from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's.  I'm in the process of scanning them into my computer for a permanent digital record.  I am convinced that when I depart this earth that all my hard copy photos will be tossed out in the trash so I'm copying as many as I can and posting them to either my blog or Facebook.  Maybe some of those featured in the photos will appreciate them or even strangers will recognize the iconic value and the Capture in Time Moment that I recorded for posterity. Just leaving a trail behind folks to prove that I was here and had one hell of a good time!


The picture of above is of one of my Loves of My Life.  His name was Brad.  He was from Cincinnati.  I was crazy about him and he was crazy about me for awhile until I started to smother him with attention.  I tend to do that when I like someone, I smother them.  I always got the same results, they fled.

Brad (without the shirt) and my friends Bob and Gino - we're getting ready to go on a sailboat 

This picture was taken in July of 1980 on Bradford Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  I met Brad in a bar in Philadelphia.  Or rather he met me.  I walked over to me and started to talk.  I was quite the catch then (I guess).  Well anyway, one thing led to another and we began a torrid affair.  It lasted that summer of 1980.

Brad and me (on the right) - it got a little chilly out on that sailboat

A little toast out in the bay

Our affair began to cool off when he started to tramp around with others.  I thought by taking him on a two week vacation to Provincetown (he had never been there before) that he would fall in love with me all over again.  Didn't happen.  After a few days and nights of enjoying the sights, sounds and pleasures of P-Town Brad met a married couple (man and woman) and took off with them.  I didn't see him until it was time to leave P-town.  Since I had the plane tickets (which I bought and paid for everything on OUR holiday), he thought it wise to show up on my doorstep to go home to Philadelphia.  Apparently his ménage à trios partners weren't going to pay his way to take his ass back to Philadelphia, it was on me.  Of course I forgave him.  Didn't work.  As soon as he got back to Philly, he started to tramp around again.  I could write a book and maybe I will someday.  So many stories Ron has to tell, so little time.

Do I look pissed?  Well, I was!

Anyway, this picture is of him waiting for the bus to take us to the Provincetown airport.  I think I had just chewed him out (no pun intended) and he was a bit miffed because he was STUCK with me (again, no pun intended).

Me at the Provincetown airport for a little sightseeing 1980

Yep folks, it's one of THOSE DAYS.


I hope this cold is gone tomorrow.

What Good Are Flu Shots?

Me before flu shots - April 1977 - no bad colds

This is Week Two of my cold.  After a telephone conversation with a guest who was making a hotel reservation tonight at the hotel, I have determined that I have the flu.  She also has the flu.  Has had it for the past two weeks and just wants to get away from her New Jersey home to the sunshine to our sunny little town of Lewes on the East coast of Delaware.

She said this is a new strain of flu that LASTS THREE WEEKS!  She described all the symptoms:

• Begins with a sore throat
• Moves to the sinuses
• Then a dry cough
• Achy body
• Exhaustion
• Shortness of breath
• Lethargy

Those symptoms are the same symptoms I have!

My whole past history of getting colds is that they last two to three days.  I never get colds in my sinuses.  I almost always get chest congestion.  I know how my colds work.  This one is different.  I've never had a "cold" like this before.

Up until a few years ago I never got a flu shot.  Last year I got a flu shot.  I had the WORST COLD in my lifetime last year.  I thought I was dying.  For the first time in my life I had to go to a doctor because I feared that I would not recover.  I was afraid to go to sleep because I couldn't breath.  It was a good thing I went to the doctor because she said one of my lungs was full and the other was filling up.  I was a few days away from Walking Pneumonia.  Even though I felt like dying, that's how miserable I was, I survived after taking the antibiotics that my doctor prescribed.

So this year comes along and all the bombarding notices come out about "GET YOUR FLU SHOT!"  So I got my flu shot at the VA Outpatient Clinic.  A month goes by.  Last week at this time I wake up with a slight sore throat.  Uh oh.  "Cold coming on Ron!"  

I thoroughly expected this to be another typical "Ron Cold."  I was wrong.  Oh boy was I ever wrong.

I struggled through work at the hotel on Wednesday and Thursday with my cold.  I looked forward to the weekend so I could recover.  Lots of rest and sleep which I did.  Then I get a call from my manager at the hotel.  "Could I come into work this week on Monday and Tuesday in addition to my regular Wednesday and Thursday shift?"  Of course I couldn't say "No."  I got through last night and I'll get through tonight, tomorrow night and Thursday night.  Hopefully by then my "cold" will be gone.  

My question is, what good is it for me to get a flu shot?  For the past two years, in spite of my flu shot, I've had the worst "colds" in my lifetime.  Either this is a new strain of flu or else I'm getting the flu by the flu shot.  

Next year I'm going to bypass the flu shot.  I bet I don't get a cold.  In the meantime I'm hitting the sack again until I have to go into work this afternoon.  

I Have a Cold

I was doing pretty good this year.  Only a few hefty sneezes over the past few months expelling the cold/flu germ. Ah yes, I WAS doing so well.

Last week I was visiting a friend who returned from his home in Altoona, PA.  He has many nieces and nephews.  They have children.  They have colds.  He gets a cold.  I got the cold.

I rarely get colds or the flu.  Last year was the first time I got a cold so bad that I had to go to the doctor.  I literally feared for my life. I couldn't breath.  As the days went by I wasn't getting better.  When I could no longer keep food down, I had Bill drag me to my doctor.  She said I came just in time because one of my lungs was filled up with fluid (why I was having trouble breathing) and the other lung was on it's way.  I had Walking pneumonia.  She prescribed an anti-biotic and with a few more day's bed rest I was on my way to recovery.

Where did I get that cold from?  A co-worker, who has children, who had colds.  When I was working with her she was sniffing and sneezing and wheezing.  After I returned from work she told me she had lost twenty pounds and also suffered from pneumonia.  Thanks kids!

I notice that I only get bad colds when I'm around people who are around kids.  Once I left my job at the bank and stopped traveling the commuter train to Philadelphia which was full of dads sneezing from their kid contacted colds, my cold catching day stopped.  They only picked up when I began working at a hotel (the Hampton Inn in Lionville, PA this time) and one of my co-workers had a little Princess who always seemed to have a cold which she passed on to her mom who passed it on to me.

Cold carriers and spreaders - the little Darlins!
(photo is of MY COUSINS so don't get your panties in a twist)

So here I am in Gayberry, Delaware sans children.  But ah, they got me anyway,  through my friend with the nieces and nephews in Altoona, PA.

If you're reading this my friend (he has given me STRICT instructions to NEVER print his name in my blog) from Altoona, I'm not blaming you but I hope you'll understand that the next time I visit it won't be right after you visit the nieces and nephews.  Nothing personal but I prefer to stay healthy.

This is no fun.