(Old) Ain't gonna move no more in the MMP

Inspired by JtC’s recent and ongoing rehoming - how many among us have said “This is my last move!” How many of us truly believe that?

Yep, it’s Movin’ Moanday!!

And to answer my own question, Yes we’ve said that, and having been here 20 years (as of the end of this month) I’d say it depends whether this is truly it. Our health and physical conditions are the determining factors. There may well come a time when this property is too much for us. But I figure we have at least one more decade (and probably one more roof) of living here. And if my spousal unit passes before I do in that time, all bets are off. What a cheery thought…

Happy Moanday!!

First! It’s good to be juvenile!

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN 'Tis 77 Amurrkin out and partly cloudy with a predicted high of 91 and possible rain later in the day. We shall see. The big item on today’s agenda is to refill a couple of ‘scripts which means I will have to don attire acceptable for bein’ amongst the great unwashed. Woe. Other than that, I shall be my usual RDOS self. Even sup will be slothful as it will be boxed (don’t judge!) lasagna, sallit, and cheesey garlic bread.

I’ve always said my next move will be to one of two homes, the nursin’ home or the funeral home. Both of us are quite happy in da cave and for the most part with where we live, so why change at this point. Da cave is not quite as palatial as FairyChatEstates and is on a lot less acerage, as in, one acre total with a lot of the back taken up with the cee-mint pond and storage buildin’s.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, alas and bother, I must do as I said above and deal with the great unwashed.

Happy Moanday Y’all!

Huh. Considering that this is a two story house and my right leg isn’t working so well… I’d say it’s anybody’s guess, really. I thought this was the place I’d live forever, but maybe not.

Annie and I are up and working hard today. In a couple of hours I’m supposed to go over to the Clubhouse and cook. Except that I already let them know that when I come over that I’ll just be supervising cooking. It should work out ok, though, because there are usually plenty of volunteers.

Palatial is not a word I’d use, but we do have a flight of stairs that may or may not prove to be an issue. Ever since we bought the place, MIL has said we need to move our laundry upstairs because, well, stairs. Um, lessee - the people we bought from were in their 80s and still managing steps just find. My mom is 90 and she can still use her stairs. I’m thinking someone is anticipating a problem that may never exist… :roll_eyes:

However, the yard and mowage may well become an issue. Several of our neighbors have yard services. Then again, in 10 years, Roxy and Tobias will be old enough to earn some extra $$ helping us out. So who knows?

I have given some thought to what I’d do if I was widowed and I honestly don’t know. The thought of an apartment really turns me off. Time enough to figure that out, and it may never be an issue.

Totally unrelated, my countertop ice maker has been making some noises of late so I just ordered a new one that makes the “good” ice! FCD will be thrilled, even tho he hates the ice maker. Actually, he hates the fridge with the bottom freezer drawer, but that’s another issue. New ice maker will be here in a week. Film at 11!!

Mornn’ all. 7am as I start driveling.

First things first: to dispel any concerns about my final typo-ed post last night, the fever was 100.5 = one hundred point five. So hot for me, but certainly not dangerous in and of itself. Stoopit typos.

Moving? Moi?

When late wife and I bought the lake house in 2001 so age mid 40s we figured that would do us until we became infirm and made Swampy’s move® in our turns. After all, I now had total job security at a new and much more robust airline, a big pay raise, this was a newish growing community, etc. What could go wrong? 6 months later I was unemployed and had to change careers for almost a decade. But I did have a really big mortgage. Oops.

That all eventually got resolved and then a few years later we had to move to greater Dallas or Miami to follow the reinstated flying job. So in our mid 50s we bought the condo on the water near the beach down here. Big enough to last all our years, small enough to be sensible for old folks, lots of elders living there now proves it’s doable. By then MIL was scooter-bound so I even spent time figuring out how much of daily shopping, erranding, etc., we could do on a scooter. The answer was almost everything. Yaay. This is our last move!! At least until the Grim Swampy shows up to insist on one more. Boooo!

Late wife’s advanced metastases show up next month. She’s screwed; it’s just a question of how soon. I’m gonna be old alone, or at least without her. Against all odds she lasts 7 years, not 7 months. But there I am in 2021 age 62 in our condo alone. Which complex by now is showing its age, having been built in the 1970s. Sea level rise also is more of the thing, as are other concerns about condo ownership I’d learned along the way. Time to lean towards moving again but with no particular urgency.

Then HL shows up. She’s willing to live here for a vaguely-defined “temporarily”, but once we’re together then moving is high on her list. For her own reasons she wants a rented apartment. I’d independently come to the same conclusion for an overlapping but still distinct set of reasons. Her urgency eventually overcame my sloth and a year later we happily move together to an apartment and sell the condo.

Her view since switching from owning to renting about 12 years ago is that the idea of staying in one place is vastly overrated and is just a trap. Renting, and staying possession-lite so moving is logistically easy, not hard, is much smarter. If you get bored where you are, move! Whether that’s a new street address, a new zip code, or a new state. Management or neighbors at the apartment you’re in is now pissing you off? Move two blocks away to a different building! Neighborhood declining or getting too gentrified or you’re just bored with the tired familiarity of it all? Move to a different zipcode! Weather getting too hot or cold or politics too stupid? Move to a different state!

Since she and I moved together to that apartment I’ve made two moves within this zipcode. One solo to Roomie Mike’s house temporarily, and again solo to this apartment a mile-ish from HL’s.

I could imagine being here another 10 years to age 75 or even well beyond unto my own encounter with Swampy’s move. There are a few decrepit oldies here, and since they tend to stay inside more than the average residents, there are probably a bunch more than I think there are.

I could also imagine moving again when this lease is up in Sep '25. Heck I could move next month if I wanted to.

So overall, I sorta reject the implied premise that moving is bad or to be avoided. I sure used to think that. I don’t now. And despite my recent spending spree on furniture and what not you’ve all seen the pix of, I now own barely 5% of the stuff I did at the lake McMansion we sold just a dozen years ago. I am also paying some attention to what I use and what I don’t and will start culling this stuff back in a year or so. It helps of course that except for a few friends, I have no ties to any humans here. As we used to say in the military upon a transfer elsewhere: “I’ve got a whole bunch of friends at the next place; I just don’t know their names. Yet.” What friends I do have on Earth are scattered all over it; not much concentrated in this metro area, much less this zipcode.

FWIW … The people I’ve known who remained in the big family house after their spouse died all ended up feeling really trapped there a few years later then downsized and moved. And once resettled, everyone has said they wished they’d done it much sooner than they did. Not hastily after spouse died, but in due course as a deliberate planned transition to the next phase of their life.

I suppose a bottom line to my life at least might be: Saying “this is my last move” is simply taunting Fate to prove you wrong. So don’t do that. Certain tigers should not be poked with sticks.

Switching gears:

I’m not feverish this morning but still feel stuffy and like shit. Uggh. And now I’ve had to change from sweats to a t-shirt cuz suddenly I’m flashin’.

And as to y’all …

Flyboy good luck with the painting today.

FCM and Sticky Buns: There are, of course two issues to stairs. The obvious one is “Can you negotiate them at all?” Not easy bordering on impossible with a walker, one bum leg, etc.

The other one that tends to get overlooked is “The injuries from any fall on stairs are 10x to 100x more severe than the same fall on a flat floor.” How much do you want to tempt Fate with that risk 2 or 20 or 30 times per day depending on your house layout?

So MIL is right that you’re running a risk with the laundry downstairs. And FCM is right that the risk may never mature into an actual problem. Decisions decisions.

For sure the more you trudge up and down stairs the farther into old age your stair capability will last. Finding a way to incorporate stairs into my routine is really must-do. This building’s geometry and security arrangements don’t make that easy. My last building (HL’s place) was much more conducive to voluntary stair climbing, and the condo was great for it; stairs were the path of least resistance to my 3rd floor unit so stairs are what I almost always used.

Oh yeah, and FCM congrats on the new icemaker. Some stuff is just important for us RDOS’s and the right ice for cocktails / mocktails is one of those important things :grin:

Back to today …
Need to eventually go out and procure meds. And make some phone calls. Uug. Donwanna.

Cheers all!! Moan forth! ArrrrrGGH!!1!!

Morning, everyone.

When we retired a year or so ago, we were planning on moving from our home of twenty-five years to a place further north, perhaps the Pacific northwest. Our area has been getting overcrowded, since it’s within commute distance of Silicon Valley, and climate change and fires is making the bay area’s weather feel more like southern California. And our shared-wall neighbors are major jerks.

But when we more closely examined Washington and Oregon, we didn’t feel like we’d be a good fit there. Maybe it was the “State of Jefferson!1!” banners we saw posted. So we pulled back and looked at a 55+ place north of Healdsburg in Sonoma County. We even put our house up for sale we were so sure we wanted to move there. But when we checked out the homes in that community we saw that they were very dumpy on the inside even though the outsides were cute. And medical facilities and good grocery stores were several miles away.

Eventually we gave up and decided to stay put. But our current home is two-story, and we’re getting older. Maybe one of those stair lifts is the answer. They certainly cost less than a real estate agent’s fee.

Can’t remember the last time I joined an MMP while it was still in single digits!

Am currently breaking fast in terminal C of the Philadelphia airport. My flight to LaGuardia boards in an hour and a half. Mostly uneventful red-eye from Vegas, though there was a passenger who got taken off by paramedics. I overheard a FA say she had fallen and hit her head before boarding and was starting to feel woozy. Hope she’s OK; head trauma’s nothing to sneeze at.

I dozed on and off, but didn’t really sleep. Not that I expected to. I’ll power through today, go to bed at a decent hour, and that’ll help me get used to the time difference before starting work early tomorrow morning.

We just moved last year into what we expect will be our retirement home. I’m 60 and I already don’t much care for stairs. We built a single-story just ‘cause. If we do ever move again, it’ll probably be because one of us is dead and the other has become too infirm to live unassisted. Should that be the case, well, we won’t be the ones doing the work of moving anyway, I would think.

I led a nomadic existence for over 30 years and never thought about staying in one place until we moved back to my childhood home of Anchorage in 1998. I truly thought that I would live out the rest of my life there, so was mildly surprised when after retiring we decided to move south, packed up the RV and headed out. We ended up in Portland and I thought “Okay, this is it. We’re done with big changes.” Now we’re in Minneapolis, and while I’m pretty sure this is the final destination, I’m not going to say it out loud.

Have a good week, all.

6:30pm IST and posting from Colombo, Sri Lanka which doesn’t really meld with the OP.

Over here for a two week cricket tour where we are being belted by rain, humidity and the locals.

About to head down to the infinity pool and see if the squad can surpass the beverage volumes of yesterday. Will take a decent nudge.

Morning all. already 75F heading to 97F according to the Weather Wizards, so good day to be doing little. Need to start getting back to my old routine, so a little shopping (apples and bacon) and sammich’ing (Jimmy John’s #3) will occupy my attention later this morning, with swimming and sauna in the afternoon. Have a Soccer board meeting tonight, it is at a restaurant near me (Goodland Pour House), so probably will have dinner there.

As to moving, last move for me was 2003, back from Abu Dhabi, and have spent the last 21 years in the house I bought in 1997. In my 72nd year now, my ‘plan’ is to stay here until I reach 75-76 years old and then downsize to an apartment, maybe in a retired community like cookie or maybe just a regular place like Pilot, with a final move someday to assisted living. Haven’t taken step one in that plan yet, so it may be more of a ‘someday later’ event.

As for stairs, I bought this house because it does not have stairs at all (most N. Ali-bama houses do not have basements and this is a ranch. Anywhere else I go will have the same requirements, I do not need stairs as a regular part of my life.

Wheelie, safe travels. Been through PHL twice, one was a nice experience and the other…wasn’t, but hope the other passenger is OK. And they have re-modeled LGA, heard it’s lots nicer, because it couldn’t have been worse when I was there…

Pilot, feel better soon. I know BB gives you the fever, but save it for her…

And off we go into another week of the MMP. Take care all.

That’s a great idea, but not possible here. We’ve got the dramatic staircase in the front that curves around and the upright and businesslike ‘servant’s staircase in the back that also turns the corner. It’s not as curvy, but I don’t believe it’s workable either. It’s almost time to head over to cook and I do not want to go. Ugh.

Pilot, so glad that your fever was not so high as you first accidentally reported it!

I’ve been in and out of LaGuardia once before, 12 years ago. I don’t recall much about it, good or bad. There are no direct flights from Vegas to LGA on any airline, however. I got talked into a non-direct flight because the Project Manager insisted on meeting at the airport and riding to the hotel together. Not a big deal, since I prefer overnight flights when going to the east coast, and I would have gotten in way too early, so it works out. I did book a non-stop out of Newark for the trip home.

IMO, Philly airport (terminal C, at least) is cramped and poorly designed.* But I’m in a comfortable chair in a place with decent food and good coffee. And my flight is on time, which is really the important bit.

*ETA: And not nearly enough bathrooms!

Howdy y’all! Been in the shop for an hour or so. Waiting on other people to get in touch to determine what the week will entail. Got a serious case of donwannas.

As to stairs, my folks recently put an addition onto their house that can become their bedroom on the first floor if it ever comes to that. Dunno what they’ll do about laundry, as that is in the basement. Now it’s just a really nice second living room.

Moving: I’ve been in my current house for 20 years. By far the longest I’ve lived anywhere. Previous long was 3. I don’t see me moving anytime soon.

Stay safe out there. It’s a strange place.

The LGA Delta terminal is about 15 years old and pretty nice, although not brand spanking new. The entire rest of LGA’s terminals are not even 2 years old; really snazzy. By the vast and impersonal standards of airports.

Yeah, all of PHL needs new bigger terminals. And new bigger ramp areas for airplanes. But with a fixed amount of real estate, making either bigger makes the other smaller. They are trapped.

Off I go, under the wire. Will be back after.

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 19c/66f with no predicted change, and partly cloudy. Weather app says “Not sure what I was fucking going to say here. My mind is fucking blank.” Yes, that’s much how I am feeling today.

Friday evening through to Sunday night was spent at a music festival, during which we watched 24 out of the 30 bands across the three days. The ones we missed were either because we knew they weren’t our thing, or they were on the other stage and we were happy where we were, drinking beer and catching up with friends.

This morning we were up reasonably early, had a big breakfast, packed ourselves up and drove home via the supermarket so we have something for dinner tonight. During the weekend, I had regular updates from the catsitter to let me know how the mogs were doing, two of them were fine but Cherry got rather scared and spent two days hiding under the bed. She did eventually come out to see the catsitter and of course, she would have come out when the house was quiet to get her food.

Now we’re back, the car was sluggsh starting over the last few days so I was a bit concerned that we’d be stranded in a car park in Oldham, but fortunately it started both times I needed it today, and we got safely home. I’ve got the mobile mechanic booked to fit a new heavy-duty battery in Wednesday afternoon so I’ll have to remember to leave the car keys where 'im indoors can find them as he’ll need to sort that out. It’s all paid for already so all he needs to do is hand over the keys to the mechanic.

As to the MMP, we live in a 3-bed house (one sleeping room, one box room and one office) so the plan for later life was to sell the house and downsize to a flat, or smaller property. I would favour a bungalow because 'im indoors doesn’t deal well with other people too much so a flat would involve far too many close neighbours and shared walls. When we talked about moving recently, he said he wanted a 4-bed house…not quite sure why when the idea is to get smaller rather than bigger!

The stairs are currently not a problem for either of us, but I could see that becoming an issue later in life. Who knows? Maybe we’ll find the property of our dreams, or maybe we’ll die in this place and the cats will eat us.

I’ve lived in my townhouse for 19 years. I’m 67 and have no plans to move out except in a pine box. I will get an Acorn StairLift if at some point I can no longer handle stairs.

I still haven’t found my plates and you are asking if I’m going to move again? Have you gone and lost your mind?!?!

This house is only a few miles away from medical care, a grocery store, a booze sto and a dispensary. It is a small house with a small yard and no stairs. While there are things we need to have done, it should be our final home.

After dinner last night, Hubs unearthed his comp and got that set up in his room. Sanctuary is safe once again (Diablo IV). He’s put a short cabinet under his window so GG can look out the window, but GG thinks he’d rather supervise from the top of the wardrobe.

There is a furniture store downtown that the electrician spoke highly of, once Hubs is ready we will head out to look at desk chairs.

I have several boxes of things to take to the Salvation Army (so many plastic coat hangers) so we will stop there first and see what kind of desk chairs they have available.

My pan rack will be here today, this one has room for the lids as well which I really like.

Assembling, hanging and filling will probably take up the rest of the afternoon, but will be worth it. I’ve never liked digging around in cabinets for the pan I want, I like it much better when they are out where I can see them. This will also clear up some under the cabinet space for other things. It won’t help me find my plates, though.

I sure do hope that gets better soon.

I have always liked the looks of two story homes. I’ve always thought that it would be fun to sit in front of the upper window and gaze out over the neighborhood and look into trees. I’ve always been lazy, and way back when I was in high school one of my good friends lived in a two story townhouse with carpeted stairs. One of her chores was to vacuum the stairs twice a week. I helped her drag the vacuum up and down the stairs once and vowed to never, ever live in a home with stairs.

I hope your visit to the Clubhouse was fun and productive!

Huzzah! Everyone loves Good Ice!!!

I carry a 30 oz insulated stainless steel sippy cup filled with icewaterwithlemon everywhere I go. Except the bathroom, of course. When I fill it with Good Ice, the bottom third turns into a block of solid ice in less than an hour. That didn’t happen in AZ so I’m wondering if it has something to do with the high humidity here?

I hope you start feeling better soonist. It would really suck for you to be the one to have to cancel this weekend :frowning:

I also looked at Washington and Oregon. Washington was very pricey except by the Oregon border and some parts of Oregon were even more Trumpy than AZ, so that didn’t work for me either. Beautiful states though, I know why you were attracted to them.

I hope your horrible neighbors convert to Buddhism. That would make the shared wall experience much more pleasant.

That’s always the worse. I don’t mind it when I have to allow other people make my plans for the week, but I hate waiting for them to make up their minds.

My day looks to be various mundanities, such as taking my car in for surgery (needs front suspension work), getting DH new work boots, and similar attempts at adulting. Considering DH is still very much in “kid with new toy” mode about the Jeep and wanting to go bad-road-roaming, could be tricky getting him to deal with other needs. I’m hoping today is “get (bleep) DONE” day, tomorrow can be bad-road-roaming if he really wants.

We’re very seriously considering bailing out of California. Crazy politics, insane cost of living, and other factors.

nettie Careful with bad-roading. My buddy once got a new 4-wd truck and promptly got it stuck in muddy ruts. He had to get a friggin bulldozer to get it out. The tracks were the only thig that should have been going into that mud.