My move to the retirement facility (If joining the thread late, at least skim the first few posts)

In My Humble Opinion
481

Oh God, that is hilarious! :joy: And every word is true! Thanks–I sent it to several cat owners.

Good morning, campers.

Slept well-- my Fitbit gave me a sleep score of 87, which is very good. Over an hour of deep sleep, which I had been lacking over the past two weeks.

In other news, EC has discovered that the front door might lead someplace interesting. So I will need to start watching that. If she does get out, it’s just a carpeted hallway and unless someone can give her a boost to the elevator buttons or the door handle to the stairway, she can’t go anywhere. She has also been up on the kitchen counters and the pass-through. Oh boy-- exploring her new domain. Getting her cooties all over everything.

My sainted cleaning lady “Mary Lou” is coming today to see the new place. I’m going to keep her on here. I’m hoping she can help me organize and put away some stuff. She’s very practical and level-headed. She’s been coming to clean for me every other week for 10 years and has never missed and never been late. :innocent: God bless her. She will be careful about the cats, too. They do provide a once-a-month maid service here, but it’s more like hotel housekeeping-- a 40-minute quick pass through the place. (I know, @betonbill, “use the service you’re already paying for” :wink: – but Mary Lou depends on the income. She lost some clients during COVID.)

More anon…

482

You can have Mary Lou do things the regular maid service doesn’t, either because they don’t have time or because it involves things like helping sort boxes and organize which probably aren’t included in the service.

And you can probably schedule her on weeks the once-a-month service isn’t coming; so you’ll have help three weeks out of the month instead of one. Presuming that you’ve got the money, that seems worth paying for – once a month isn’t much.

Very glad that you got some good sleep!

And yes, I expect this thread’s going to gradually taper off as you finish getting settled in. But we do appreciate whatever updates you think belong here, for as long as you feel like making them.

483

I appreciate having a sympathetic audience for my adventures and perils. Especially since some of y’all are in or facing similar transitions so you really understand.

In case anyone wonders whether my on-the-ball mental capacity disqualifies me from the Old Folks Home: I washed some things in the communal washing machine this morning and then put them in the dryer-- so far so good. When the dryer cycle was finished, I could NOT get the door open! I squeezed and squeezed what seemed to be the release handle. I read the info sheet that they gave us. I even went online, but I wasn’t sure exactly what model of dryer this was. I pushed buttons and held buttons and tapped buttons. The clothes just sat in there.

So I texted the Executive Director who is a very responsive and helpful person (as well he should be). Within five minutes, one of the housekeepers turned up and opened the dryer door. I was trying to open the hinged side, not the side that opens. :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth: Thank goodness I didn’t demonstrate for her how I was trying to open the door–she just put it down to the cycle not being over or something nonjudgmental like that. Lord, am I ever in the right place.

Musing: I’m a pretty smart person, but sometimes I stare in wonderment at my own blind spots when it comes to something like this. It never occurred to me to try the open the other side of the door. While I was struggling, part of me tried to step back and ask, “What am I not seeing here?” But if you can’t see it, you can’t see it.

Onward…

484

That is totally something I’d do. :woman_facepalming:

485

Unfortunately, not entirely. Jeffrey the Gray Demon experiences nocturnal Frenetic Activity Periods.

486

:crazy_face:

Some days you get the bear door, some days it gets you.

But it’s an insightful point: what you knew can keep you from learning what you have to learn now. Part and parcel of the learning process. Which you’re making headway with, even if it’s a little embarrassing sometimes.

Keep on learnin’

487

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Glad to see you’re settling into the new normal, and if the thread meanders off that’s not a bad thing. More time for other threads, whether or not cat based. One thing I hope the Home does well is when winter rolls around, that the various saints will deal with the rare ice, and that you’ll have extra company to keep out the short-dark day downs.

Of course, in your area of TX, that’s generally a lot less of an issue than it’s here in Colorado, but still.

Of course part 2, my Austin-ite friends are trying to avert the worst by predicting it: after they finally dropped below 100, they said that with their luck it’ll move into another Snowmageddon Winter.

488

I’ve been following along with this saga and haven’t had anything to add. Last year I had to leave the home I knew and loved due to circumstances entirely outside my control, so while the situations aren’t otherwise terribly analogous, I do feel a great deal of empathy. You’ve handled everything with far greater poise and aplomb than I did, and I’m really, really glad that you (and your wee beafts) are doing ok.

489

So good to see how things have worked out for you so far. You got it all done with such little time to work with. I remember getting the hint of this starting when you were asking about dimension from your house plan, then something about Mary Lou’s dog, and then in no time at all you were on your way to the new place. Thanks for sharing with us, hope my positive vibes helped some, and gotta say I enjoyed worrying about your problems instead of my own for while, which sadly I have to get back to now. Live well, give the cat creatures some treats, tell Mary Lou’s dog to have some dignity and behave himself, and just take some time to relax now. Those boxes will still be there tomorrow if you don’t unpack them today.

490

Hilarious!!

It hasn’t even passed 90 today-- practically a cold snap. I hope The Home has a ginormous backup generator for when the Texas grid lets us down again.

I’m so sorry you had to go through this. It sucks large duck eggs, for sure.

I haven’t shared all the cursing and screaming… I have my image (ahem) to uphold, after all. This morning’s dryer mishap notwithstanding.

Absolutely yes!

Hehe. Sort of a “Strangers on a Train” phenomenon, eh?

Y’all have probably figured out that “Mary Lou” is my generic appellation for all women and women analogues in my life, for purposes of this board. I also refer to ALEXA as “Mary Lou” when she’s right here next to me and I have occasion to talk about her but don’t want her to snap to attention.

I’ve been taking 3-4 boxes of stuff to Goodwill every day. Stuff I thought of as “treasures” that I never wanted to part with. Forget it-- out it all goes!

EC has definitely become aware of the front door as possible route to tantalizingly forbidden adventures. I guess it wouldn’t be the end of the world if she got out into the hallway. But I’m not ready for that yet. One crisis at a time, please.

491

The hallway is boring, EC. No boxes in it at all.

492

Seriously though, having a small in room backup isn’t a bad idea. I keep a small scale Jackery battery in-house for emergency needs. Just something to recharge things off of in the event of a longish power loss, to run some fans if power fails during a heat wave, or to keep things online in the event of a significant winter weather event. My Austin friend had one along with the cassette stove we got him after his area had a major winter outage here in Colorado and it helped him immensely during Snowmageddon.

I do also hope The Home is well prepared, but having backups rarely hurts if budget allows.

I also acknowledge I have (pretty minor) prepper tendencies, especially after areas of town were evacuated during some of the more eventful Colorado fires, making sure I have a 72 hour kit and little things like that, so my assumptions of need may not be completely rational. :laughing:

493

I don’t think there’s anything irrational about having, or recommending, a 72 hour kit. Or a backup battery charger for a cell phone. Or a Sterno stove.

Enough of a backup to run an air conditioner or to heat the place is impractical for a lot of people, though. – a human and two cats under a big enough pile of blankets should be able to hold out for a while, if there’s a winter problem. Especially with hot soup from the Sterno. Hot weather can be a more difficult issue to deal with; enough water, in and on you, can help.

494

Oh, I didn’t mean it to be that severe a self-own (thus the laughing), I just know people who talk about such things as “bug out kits” or “Z-day packs” (Z for Zombie), who are being more than a little ridiculous in their various flavors of prepped-panic.

I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t think it was a good idea, just had to poke fun at myself as well as those who perhaps take it far too seriously.

495

My last residence came with the washer & dryer the previous owner had bought. Perfectly ordinary stuff, but it eventually got old and had to be replaced.

On the old dryer the door was hinged at the bottom. The new one was hinged on the right. You’d be amazed how long it takes to retrain your habit to not grab the top of the door and pull down uselessly.

I’d not be surprised to find that Thelma’s new communal dryer is hinged opposite from her old one. The fact that most dryer doors are designed to be hinged on either side means a lot of the handholds and such are ambiguous: There’s one on the correct side and a matching distractor on the incorrect side.

496

Exactamundo!

497

UPDATE

Well, sports fans, yesterday afternoon I hit the wall energetically and emotionally.

Took four more boxes to Goodwill in the morning, did two loads of laundry (opened the dryer door on the correct side!), did my 5K steps, ate a fantastic lunch (pork chops, baked potato, cornbread, fried okra, collards-- and saved half of it for dinner), and then headed for napland for an hour.

When I got up, I went to the September group birthday party-- probably not a great idea, but I was curious. Already tired and vulnerable, I looked around the room full of grayhairs (mine is now, too, my avatar notwithstanding), noted the lounge-singer-Sinatra-karaoke guy singing “Start Spreadin’ the News, I’m Leavin’ Today” with the crowd singing along and a few women dancing-- I had to leave. I went back to my apartment, which now seems crowded with too much stuff like a caricature of old person’s apartment, and screamed quietly to myself, “How the fuck did I end up here with all of these OLD PEOPLE???”

Six weeks ago I was sitting in my house, mildly content, settled, plenty of room, darling back yard with deck, a nice neighborhood, where I planned to stay until summoned to Charon’s boat. Now I live someplace else-- against my will-- in a second floor apartment with no direct outside access and only TWO WINDOWS. How did this happen? And how did it happen so fast??

I know this was the right thing to do, given my options. It’s a great place, all things considered. Financially it is great. I can’t be kicked out. Blahblahblah. But I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE! I want to be in my home, which turned out not to be my home. But this isn’t my home yet.

This isn’t how it was supposed to go. This isn’t how my life was supposed to turn out.

I know there are many positives…but right now, as the world stops spinning and as I come to rest in this spot, I can’t believe this has happened…

:sob:

ETA: Heading to the dining room in a few minutes for the Friday breakfast buffet. Every other day, it’s rolls and coffee, but on Friday it’s Breakfast at the Country House in an Agatha Christie novel: bacon, sausage, biscuits, scrambled eggs, grits (we Southerners love our grits), sausage gravy (to go on the biscuits), pancakes, toast, juice coffee.

The food is excellent and there is plenty of it. Not having to shop for and cook for one person is one of the best things. And I should save a boatload of money on groceries and eating out.

498

I totally sympathize and could have warned you off. We went to some sing-along thing when we first got here. Root beer floats, and some local yokels (a trio) telling lame-ass jokes and playing songs my mother may have liked. The building manager, who is a bit manic, was trying to goad people into singing along. It was just too bizarre and I avoid those things religiously now. I still listen to rock music on the car radio, y’know? Birthday parties? Just nope. I saw a 100-year-old woman doddering around with a glittery “100” tiara on her head.

We don’t eat in the dining room, other than the occasional biscuits and gravy on Sunday, and have identified most of the people to avoid. I have to admit that the person we dealt with on the phone when we were planning all this tried to warn us that we sounded too young for this place. And I truly sympathize with your yearning for your home and yard. But this is where we are for now and things can always change, as they have many times in the past. I thought our home in Anchorage would be our last residence, and that was two moves ago.

Give it a year and see if you feel better about things.

499

Thanks so much for that thoughtful and compassionate response. Yeah, I think it will get better, and you’re right-- I don’t have to attend everything.

500

Is there somewhere in the area that you can easily get to where you can volunteer for things, or just hang out, with a more mixed-age group?

For me, I’d try the library to start with, both directly for that purpose and to get additional ideas; but you know your area, and your tastes, a lot better than I do. But remember: you still have the whole neighborhood. You aren’t trapped in the one complex, any more than you were trapped in the one house.