corn anyone?

 Ready or not, here it comes - the corny joke of the day from my seniors exercise class.

Dr. Geezer was bored with retirement so he decided to begin practicing medicine again on a small scale.  He posted a sign on his office door that said Any Ailment Cured - $500, if I can't cure you I will pay you $1,000.  Dr. Young didn't believe that this old geezer could possibly do what he claimed so he decided to put him to the test,  Dr. Young came to Dr. Geezer's office and said "I've lost my sense of taste.  Can you cure me?"  Dr. Geezer said to his nurse "Get the medicine on the middle shelf of cabinet 22 and put three drops on his tongue."  When the drops hit his tongue, Dr. Young gasped "That's gasoline."  "Congratulations, you've regained your sense of taste.  That will be $500."  Dr. Young paid, left and came back for his revenge several weeks later.  "Dr. Geezer," he said "I've lost my memory.  Can you help me?"  "Nurse, get the medicine from the middle shelf of cabinet 22 and put three drops on his tongue." "Oh no" said Dr. Young, "that's gasoline."  "Congratulations, your memory has been restored. Pay me."  Dr/ Young paid the $500 but now he was really angry and wanting to get even.  He came back to Dr. Geezer's again.  "Doctor" he said "I'm loosing my eyesight.  Can you cure me?"  Dr. Geezer shook his head sadly and said "I'm sorry but I can't cure that. Here's your $1.000." and handed him a $10 bill. "Wait, this is only $10."  "Congratulations, your eyesight has been restored.  Pay me."  There's no moral to this story.  Just watch out for tricky old geezers.

tattoos anyone?

 It's funny how times and attitudes change. Today I spent a lovely afternoon with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.  It was an excellent day to sit outside in their gazebo and enjoy perfectly grilled cheeseburgers with all the fixins.  We talked about a wide range of topics but eventually the discussion turned to tattoos.  I do not have a tattoo nor have I ever wanted one.  My granddaughter has one and wants more.  My daughter and son-in-law each have several and are planning to get more.  They all shared their design ideas with me.  I have very mixed feelings about this.  In my youth, half a century ago, where I grew up, tattoos were something men got when they went in the military, maybe, and then only one or two.  One would probably be their wife or girlfriend's name in a heart.  The second might say MOM.  I'm not sure how my uncle ended up with a hula dancer on his arm but I'm pretty sure he got that before he met my aunt.  While I'm sure there must have been some, I never knew a woman who had a tattoo.  If I'm being honest I always felt they were vaguely immoral.  Now it seems like everyone has them and I must admit some of them are real works of art.  Just the other day I rode down in the elevator with a man who had an amazing full sleeve tattoo on his right arm.  I am learning to enjoy looking at tattoos to judge the art, not the person.  If I ever got a tattoo it would be a small butterfly on my left shoulder or maybe a cute little snail.  Hummm????

and speaking of rain...

 Yesterday I rhapsodized about how beautiful the rain was.  I haven't changed my mind about that but thunder is a different matter.  I am not usually afraid of nature but last night was an exception. About 3:25am l was blasted awake by a sound that made me think a building had been bombed.  No kidding.  I bounced out of bed and prowled around the apartment til my heartbeat slowed down and I realized it was only thunder.  I have never heard a louder blast of thunder.  The closest I remember was way back when I was in college at Ball State and lightening struck very close to a building I was working in.  My daughter told me this morning that one of their dogs was really scared last night.  Smart dog.  I'll see him tomorrow and give him an extra hug.  I appreciate a kindred spirit.

now that was impressive

 I spent quite a while this afternoon watching it rain.  Don't judge. It was more entertaining than either of the conventions.  I felt we got just a tiny sense of what the people of the Gulf areas went through with Hurricane Laura.  I stood on my balcony for a while feeling the spray and the wind and trying to imagine it ten times worse.  The noise, as the rain hammered on the river was amazingly loud and at times the rain was blowing sideways.  It was exciting but, after seeing videos of buildings blowing apart in Texas, I really wouldn't want to experience anything stronger.  It's funny how people get used to the possible disasters of the areas they live in.  Earthquakes in California, hurricanes in Florida.  I worked with a buyer once who was moving here from California.  She insisted on only looking at houses with basements because she had a real fear of tornadoes.  We found the perfect house, with a basement, and then we went shopping for lanterns in case of power outages.  When I told her that I had never seen a tornado in all the years I've lived here she obviously didn't believe me.  Happily, no tornadoes threatened during the three years she and her family lived here.  The only real tragedy came when her husband was transferred again with his job, this time to the DC area, and she had to give up her big beautiful house, with basement, for one that cost more but was only half the size.  I never heard if she had to deal with hurricanes.

decisions, decisions

I'm watching the final speech of the Republican convention and realizing that this isn't really the end.  We are now facing two months of political commercials  and debates.  Now I'm pondering an alternative to all this.  Today is Rock, Paper, Scissors Day.  Wouldn't it be fun if, instead of debates, our candidates stood up and played Rock, Paper, Scissors, or if you're a Big Bang Theory fan, the Rock, Paper. Scissors, Lizard, Spock variation.  After 10 or 20 rounds whoever won the most often would be declared the winner for the evening.  I realize that this wouldn't give the news commentators much to talk about but it would be fun to watch, and I doubt if it would change the mind of voters any more than the debates will.  

I admit, I am surprised.

 Oh I'm not particularly surprised by the rhetoric of the Republican party, nor was I astonished at what the Democrats had to say last week.  What I have found surprising is how many relatives our president has.  I wasn't surprised that his wife spoke last night.  That's traditional.  But there has been such a parade of sons, daughter, daughters-in-law and on and on.  A suspicious little part of me wonders if this parade of family speakers is because they can be depended on to say nice things about the president.  That may be why his niece wasn't invited to speak.  I'm looking forward to VP Pence's speech this evening mainly because he's not family.  Stay tuned.

Grocery shopping 2020 style

 Early on in this pandemic time I started getting my groceries using curbside pickup and that worked well for the most part.  But recently I've been doing my grocery shopping in person, wearing my mask of course. It allows more flexibility in the purchasing process (aka impulse buying) but it also presents some new challenges.  Today, for example I wanted to use my own shopping bags and not end up with an abundance of plastic bags.  Last week, during my shopping trip, I purchased three nice bright reusable bags for 99 cents each after asking if I would be able to use these from now on.  I asked because until now they have said plastic bags only.  I was assured that I could, so today I presented my bags at checkout and was told I could use them but I would have to fill them myself.  I'm not sure I understand the rational.  After all the check out person had just handled all my items as she checked them out.  Anyway, I was fine with that,  I could make sure the eggs and bread didn't end up on the bottom.  I intended to make a quick job of it but then I heard the clerk say, to the next person in line, she has to load her own groceries so this will take a while.  Perhaps she was judging me by my gray hair?  Not wanting to disappoint, I slowed down, took my time, and did a great job of packing those groceries.  I can't wait til next week. 

A new experience

 Tonight I took part in the reading of a new play.  The author finished this play recently and wanted to hear it read aloud.  I played the old lady ghost.  Talk about typecasting.  Yes, I said ghost.  Most of the action takes place in a cemetery.  This play was written by the same author who wrote "My Dead Clown" a play I had a small role in two summers ago.  I played an old lady in that one too.  You may sense a theme here  If you wonder about these deathly story lines, the author, in his everyday life, is a mortician.  What made this evening's read through a new experience for me was that we did it by Zoom and I learned a new trick.  I have attended many meetings by Zoom since early March so that wasn't new but creating a split screen was.  With some guidance I was able to have the Zoom participants on one half of my screen and my script, as a Word document, on the other half. Very nice, no shuffling through pages and I didn't need to use up a lot of ink printing out the script.  Not that I don't think it will be a hit, but you know, just in case it never gets performed, why should I invest my paper and ink?  It is actually a pretty good play.

So much easier....

 My west coast brother texted me today to tell me that he and my sister-in-law are taking care of two of their grandchildren, ages three and five, for the weekend.  Today they were getting them ready to go to church and he referred to it as "herding cats."  I remember the days.  Back when two of my then toddler age grandchildren were living with me a friend in similar circumstances commented that trying to put tights on a toddler girl was like "dressing Jello."  Just coincidentally my 19 year old grandson stopped by for a visit today.  We watched the Indy 500 and chilled.  I couldn't help thinking how much easier it is now.  Teenage grandchildren may not be so cuddly and cute (he's 6'4" with long hair and a beard) but they can drive themselves, eat neatly and are willing to watch something more than cartoons on TV.  And speaking of the Indy 500 I didn't realize that laps driven under the yellow light counted as race laps.  I had never seen a race before that actually ended with three slow laps where the position they held when the slowdown started was where they had to stay. so basically the winner just coasted for those last three laps.  It just doesn't seem quite fair.  

obviously not my thing...

 "This is your home now.  You can go anywhere in the castle except the west wing." said the Beast to Belle.  First a true confession.  I signed up for the Disney+ channel a month ago so I could watch "Hamilton" and I did watch it and it was wonderful.  But I've discovered other joys on Disney+ including lots of good old movies.  This evening I decided to watch "Beauty and the Beast."  Childish perhaps but a good escape from Covid 19 and politics.  But my point is I would never have made it as a melodrama heroine.  As soon as the monster or mad scientist or master criminal or whoever said to me "Don't go in the cellar or cave or west wing or whatever...."  My most likely response will be "Okee dokee, whatever you say."  And I would mean it.  I have never liked going into creepy dark places.  Haunted houses do not amuse me.  In my real estate days I listed an old house that had the worst basement I have ever been in, and believe me, I wasn't in it any more than I could help.  It was too low to stand up straight, accessed by a narrow little staircase, dank and dark, and, I'm pretty sure haunted.  Luckily for me that house sold fast to someone who obviously didn't have my aversion to doing laundry in a dungeon.  

65 plus

 Today is National Senior Citizen Day.  I'm told this applies to anyone over 65 so I qualify.  Boy, do I qualify.  I celebrated this special day by seeing my doctor for my annual wellness checkup.  In addition I got my shingles shot and my flu shot.  I am ready for anything, almost. But even better, I passed the mental part of my fitness test.  You'll be pleased to know that I was able to tell what month and year it is although I missed today's date by 1.  I can say the days of the week backwards, copy a simple drawing, draw a clock with hands in the right position for 6:45 (digital would have been easier), write a sentence, remember a sequence of three words and so on. We will not dwell on my vision test or what the nasty scale showed.  I tried to explain that my mask weighs ten pounds but they weren't buying it.   

I'm not complaining but......

 I understand the necessity for road construction and I know that crews need to get as much done as possible while the weather is good, so I take the necessary detours when trying to drive from my home to almost anywhere in Fort Wayne.  As I said, I do understand.  However, I discovered today, on a walk to the park with a friend, that not only have all of my driving routes been dug up, they've also attacked all my walking routes.  Now, I do understand that sidewalks beside streets that are torn up might also be impacted, but today I discovered torn up sidewalks and paths leading into parks, disrupting the River Green Way paths, and generally getting in our way wherever we wanted to go.  On the plus side, by the time I got home I had walked three miles instead of the usual two.  So maybe I should be thankful?  Maybe....

please pass the potatoes

 Today is National Potato Day and who can't celebrate that?  I love potatoes in every form, at least every form I've ever met.  Hot German potato salad. American potato salad, potato pan cakes. mashed, baked, French fried, boiled, fried, scalloped, chipped, in soup and stews; the list goes on and on.  So obviously I'm happy to celebrate. but to be honest there's another day I would prefer.  Let's hear it for National Couch Potato Day.  Now that would be a day I could really get behind, or, more precisely, stretch out on.  In the meantime I will celebrate this day on my couch, munching potato chips.  Cheers!

not your mother's convention

 First of all, this is a day to celebrate.  100 years ago today women in the United States gained the right to vote,  Good work ladies.  I thank you. And thinking of politics, I have watched the first two episodes of the Democratic convention,  and yes, I will also watch the Republican convention.  While I'm pretty sure I know how I will vote, it's only fair to listen to both sides,  But I must say, this is not like the conventions I remember from my childhood.  Where are the chanting crowds?  The days of speeches, the votes taken to determine who will be the presidential nominee?  All gone. at least for now.  Understandable with the pandemic but J still miss the old ways.  I miss the shouted nominations and the constant air of excitement.  On the other hand, I must admit that one hour of speeches per evening is really rather refreshing.

was someone listening?

Several weeks ago, you may remember, I became the proud owner of a Slim Cycle, a nifty little stationary bike.  So far it is living up to all my expectations and I do ride it for 30 minutes on any day that I don't have other exercises.  Today. for example, I walked two miles and spent an hour at an exercise class so I didn't feel the need to ride my bike.  However I do ride it frequently.  When I told my brother that I had gotten an exercise bike his response was "Why, did you run out of closet space?"  That alone has spurred me on to use it.  I did spot one tiny flaw though.  I mentioned to a friend that it has everything I need except a cup holder.  Well, guess what?  Today I got a UPS package from the company and inside, you guessed it, was a cup holder.  The package also contained a large floor mat to set the machine on (I guess this saves wear and tear on the carpet) and, this is really good, a padded cushion to fit over the seat. It was OK before but now it's really comfy.  Who knows, with water and a comfy seat I might get up to 35 minutes.  

No more apartment envy

 This evening, as part of a socially distanced, mask wearing gathering of some church friends, I finally got to see one of the Skyline Tower apartments.  I have been curious about these apartments ever since I watched the huge Ash building complex being built across from our church about five years ago.  There wasn't anything available there in my price range when I decided to move downtown so I never toured them.  So, as I said, today I got my chance.  The apartment was beautifully decorated, with nice furniture and accessories.  The kitchen had lovely stainless appliances and the view from the wall of windows and the balcony was very nice,  I especially enjoyed the outdoor park area on the fifth floor.  There is no doubt they are really nice, new apartments.  By contrast, my apartment, in a building built in 1965, looks a little shabby around the edges.  But, my rooms are larger, I also have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and lots more storage space, my balcony is much larger and my view is, in my opinion, better.  And of course, my monthly rent is only half as much.  I'm so glad I got to see that apartment.  Curiosity satisfied and no apartment envy here.  And, as for the fancy furniture, never mind.  I'll sit on my old blue sofa and dream of my next vacation. 

more lemons in life

 Today is National Relaxation Day which is a day I can totally get behind.  It is also National Lemon Meringue Pie day.  I made a lemon meringue pie once.  It was not relaxing.  Lemon meringue was my father's favorite pie, so one year, when I was a young and confident homemaker I decided to make one for him for his birthday.  I made everything from scratch.  My husband was at work, my toddlers were playing contentedly, I was ready.  I had never made meringue before but I can follow directions and it whipped up beautifully.  I squeezed lemons, measured all the ingredients carefully and the filling cooked up perfectly.  I made the crust (that I had done before) and assembled the creation.  The kitchen was filled with a wonderful aroma of lemons.  I baked the pie and the meringue came out with perfectly golden brown tips.  It was a delicious pie and my father loved it.  I have no idea what else I served for that birthday dinner but it didn't matter, the pie was a hit.  I never baked another lemon meringue pie.  I mean, once you prove you can do something, you really don't have to do it again, right?

pure escape

 When I just can't take any more news about virus and political problems I like to escape with a good movie.  I don't have cable but I do have Netflix, a very convenient movie source.  Tonight's movie was a winner.  "Wild Oats" staring an elderly Shirley McClain, is a chick flick for the geriatric set. After her husband's death, our heroine receives a life insurance check for $5,000,000.  She was expecting $50,000.  After several attempts to rectify the situation, she gives up, deposits the check, and heads to the Canary Islands with her best friend for a lavish vacation.  It just gets better and better from there.  I recommend it, especially if you like travel and like to daydream.  A little love of romance helps too.

giving her credit

 You all know that I am a little suspicious of statistics so when I heard Kamala Harris quote one yesterday I decided to check it out.  By the way, I do like her as a VP candidate.  The statistic she quoted yesterday was that in this country, one person is dying every 80 seconds of Covid 19.  Well, I did the math and she was right, at least for yesterday.  There are 86,400 seconds in 24 hours.  If you divide that number by 80 the result is 1,080 and yesterday, according to today's news report, 1,500 people died in the US of Covid 19.  So she was being dramatic and conservative at the same time.  Believe me, I do not take this pandemic lightly.  But I do find it reassuring that, at this rate, the whole population of our country won't be killed off by Covid 19 for 823 years.  I have high hopes that we will have a vaccine before then.  

Humor me

 Please forgive me for one more reminiscence. Thinking about the nifty sand table I enjoyed in kindergarten reminded me of the real high point of that year for me.  Our teacher, Audrey Wendolyn was young and pretty and, I thought, simply wonderful.  I think that was the year I fell in love with the idea of being a teacher.  It wasn't until years and years later that I admitted to myself that I never really cared so much about being a teacher, although I did enjoy it.  What I really envied was the teacher's desk.  It was big and had all kinds of interesting things on it.  But I digress.  The best thing Miss Wendolyn did that year (1949-1950 if you're interested) was to get married.  Because, are you ready for this, she invited all of her students to the wedding.  My mother took me to the wedding and I was entranced.  Miss Wendolyn looked like a princess.   And wait, it gets better.  After the wedding my mother bought me a bride doll.  This was a pre-Barbie doll, about seven or eight inches tall that came in a square box with a clear lid. She was arranged in the box with her lovely little dress spread out all around her in a big circle.  An amazing treasure for a five year old.  Thank you Miss Wendolyn and Mommy for a sweet memory.

another great day

 This is definitely my week of special days.  Today is National Son and Daughter Day and I have one of each so that's good.  It's also Play in the Sand Day and that's one of my favorite things to do.  Actually in college I played more in clay which is also a great tactile sensation. My very earliest happy sand memory comes from kindergarten.  In our kindergarten classroom we had a sand table (a sandbox on legs).  I could stand there and run nice clean sand through my fingers as long as I wanted to without having to sit in sand or get it in my clothes. What a marvelous invention.  

another great day

 Yesterday was book lovers day and today is National Lazy Day.  This week is shaping up to be my kind of week and it's only Monday.  Now, if tomorrow turns out to be eat all the chocolate you want day, I'll know that I'm living the good life.  In the mean time I would like to share an update on my west coast brother's grand-parenting skills.  He has six grandchildren so he has had some practice.  Today he was helping to care for one of his grandchildren and shared with me information about the breakfast he was fixing for the five-year-old.  Blueberries, bacon and a donut.  It actually sounded pretty good to me.  He texted the menu and then, a little later, texted to tell me that he knew he had achieved true grandpa-hood when he caught himself saying ?No more bacon til you finish your donut." 

It's my day!

 Finally, a special day that I can really appreciate.  Today is National Book Lovers Day.  I have been a book lover since I was old enough to hold one.  Since I figured out those magic letters I would read to myself and either of my brothers as long as they would listen.  When I was about 12 and my younger brother was 10 I read "Ben Hur" to him.  We thrilled to all the action.  When I was about 16 I read "Lassie Come Home" to my littlest brother, age 6.  We both bawled during the final chapters.  Of course there were many, many other books but those stand out in my memory.  I remember my mother saying to me "You can't read your life away."  Well, I was pretty sure I could.  Alas, as I got older pesky things like work, marriage and children got in the way and I couldn't read all day every day.  Although I read whenever I could.  I started taking my children to the bookmobile when they were one and three.  I must admit though that I have a good friend who has me beat.  She always has a book in her purse and will pull it out and read whenever there isn't something else going on.  I have seen her reading as we rode on buses through England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Austria.... you get the idea.  I will admit though that we can always distract her from her book if we spot a jewelry store, but that's a whole other story that I probably could write a book about.  

Happy Anniversary

 Today is the one year anniversary of Promenade Park.  A whole year and they still can't agree on the pronunciation.  Long A, short A, it really doesn't matter.  A lot of it depends on which news program you're listening to,  But, no matter how you say it, it is a wonderful park.  I did not visit the park today, way too many other people there.  There were lots of kayaks and other boats on the river though and that was a pretty sight to watch.  I couldn't see very clearly but I didn't really see a whole lot of social distancing or mask wearing going on.  But then again, they were on the river with lots of fresh air blowing around.  I am pleased that this has become a very popular downtown park.  There are always people around enjoying the various features of the park. For me the highlights are the big front porch style swings, they bring back sweet memories and they're fun, and the canopy walk.  I like walking up among the tree tops with a great view of downtown and the river.  All in all, it is an excellent park.  Great job, Fort Wayne.

My kind of walk

At three o'clock this afternoon I met a friend in front of my building to take a walk to Promenade Park.  It's a two mile walk from here to there and back again, a good bit of exercise.  I had every intention of taking that walk until my friend said "Do you really want to go for a walk or shall we just go over to Hall's for a late lunch?"  Decisions, decisions.  It was kind of hot out.  It took me about two seconds to decide on Hall's.  I had a great lunch.  My favorite seared tuna with ginger noodles and wasabi sauce.  Maybe I'll walk tomorrow.....

let's try this again

 Now that my laptop is working again I will share with you my favorite joke from this week's exercise classes.  

A highway patrolman saw a car driving down the interstate at 22 miles an hour.  He followed the car, flashed his lights, and the driver immediately pulled over.  Inside the car were five little old ladies, four passengers and the driver.  They were all looking pale and very tense.  The officer said "Madam, are you all right?"  She responded "Yes officer but I don't know why you pulled me over."  

"You were driving so slowly that you are a danger to other drivers."

"But that can't be right.  I was driving exactly the speed limit, 22 miles an hour."  As she said this she pointed to a sign on the road side with a big number 22 on it.  The officer explained that that was the highway number and not the speed limit.

Then he asked again "Are you sure you are all ok?  Your passengers all look very pale and tense."

"Oh." she replied, "They'll be fine soon.  We just got off highway 119."

Blogging in the morning

A funny thing happened when I tried to write my blog last night.  It's always an evening project for me but when I logged on yesterday evening I couldn't type anything.  I could get the cursor in position and hit the keys but no words showed up.  After all my bragging about and pleasure in my newest new laptop it wasn't working.  Since it had been working fine an hour before when I typed a letter to a friend  I suspected user error but I checked word just in case it was a blog site problem.  I couldn't type anything there either.  So I did what any semi-competent 75 year old tech user would do.  I texted my son for help.  After several texts back and forth he was finally able to suggest a solution that worked, and no, it wasn't turn it off and turn it on again.  I had already tried that one.  I have no idea why the keyboard shut down but it's working now, hooray!!  Later I'll blog something more interesting.

cookies anyone

Today is Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and that seems like an excellent day to me.  I have been a fan of cookies for a long, long time.  But then who hasn't?  When I was selling real estate I made it a practice, and even taught my trainees, not to accept refreshments when I went to someone's house to talk to them about putting it on  the market.  It's hard to look professional if you're trying to deal with a cup of coffee or something snacky while trying to ask questions and take notes.  My professionalism went right our the window though, when I arrived at one home to be greeted by a charming homeowner who invited me into the immaculate kitchen, explaining as we headed that way, that she had just taken some chocolate chip cookies out of the oven.  I felt my resolve slipping and when she offered me a glass of milk with the cookies, I was sunk.  Who, with any memory of after school snacks in their past, could possibly say no to milk and cookies at 3:00 in the afternoon?  Not me. 

Huff puff....

Every Monday and Wednesday I go to an exercise class at our church.  It is a class designed for the geriatric set of which I must admit I am one.  At each class we spend about 50 minutes stretching, bending and generally flexing all our creaky joints.  It's a good work out.  I don't exactly break a sweat but my glasses kept steaming up today.  Of course that may have been because I was wearing the required mask. Between exercises we get snippets of humor and inspiration. Here's the joke I enjoyed most today.  

An elderly man was concerned that his wife's hearing wasn't as good as it should be so he asked their doctor for advice.  The doctor suggested a simple test, speaking to his wife from various distances while her back was turned.  So, while she was fixing supper one evening he started the experiment. From way across the house he asked her a question, no answer.  He repeated the question from 40 feet, 30 feet, 20 feet, 10 feet, still no answer.  Now he was really worried.  Finally, from right behind her he asked again "What's for supper?"  And finally she replied "Charlie, for the sixth time, we're having chicken."  

Well, that's disappointing.

I was watching an interesting piece on morning TV the other day.  Pictures were being shown of a mysterious crop circle somewhere in Germany.  It was a very elaborate design cut into a wheat field.  Now, personally, I love the idea of visitors from another galaxy popping in from time to time to see how we're doing and leaving a fascinating impression in the wheat where their space ship touched down.  Evidently a lot of other people feel the same way because there was quite a crowd clustered around that wheat field, even though the best view was from a helicopter.  All very interesting, and I was enjoying the mystery until, as a parting shot, the local announcer said "You know, farmers can program their tractors to cut crops in all kinds of patterns."  I don't believe it.  I suspect that she is one of them, disguised and left behind to divert suspicion.  

Success!

So here I sit, finally typing my blog on my newest new laptop.  My son transferred all my information from my older new laptop, got everything up and running in under four hours, deleted everything personal and we were able to return the faulty unit with no problems,  Why, you might be asking, didn't all this work get done on Friday, as originally scheduled?  After all, I did buy it on Thursday.  Well, a funny thing happened on Friday.  I live near the east end of Superior Street where a lot of road work is going on.  Evidently, while working zealously, the crew accidentally cut some power cables.  I received a kind text from I&M about 10am telling me that the power to my building was off (I had noticed) but would be restored by 3:00pm.  Well, that time came and went and the next estimate was 8pm.  Then it was stretched to 3am.  It did actually come on at 12:38am.  They sent me another text to tell me so.  What puzzled me was that there were lights on all around us.  Only our buildings and the performing arts center and art museum were dark.  On the up side, I spent a blissfully news free day and evening.  Always a silver lining.