WELCOME BACK, DAVE!

 

 

Heeeereee's Dave!

If you are a first-time visitor/reader, welcome!

Once again, it's been a year-and-a-half since I've posted here, and once again, I will try to be active here more often (hoping for one or two posts a week). There's certainly enough going on worth thinking about and sharing.

Also, I am about a third of the way through my 80th year, so if there's anything you'd like to know or ask, feel free. 

You really can't go home again, but sometimes you can peek back in through the window!

Overall, my wife and I do very little. If we're not working, going to appointments, shopping, and/or doing errands, we're pretty much stay-at-home people; you know, homebodies.

Recently, however, the Flying Monkey, an area entertainment venue, featured a concert with  The British Invasion Years, a tribute group offering a listen to the 60s - British and American. We went. 

With the first notes of the first song, two things almost immediately happened. First, I quickly took out my hearing aids! Absolutely not needed (you know how concerts are)! Second, I started getting a bit misty as the music poured over and into me. The music represented a different time and place and took me back – I was there – I lived through it. And... oh, the memories....  The feels washed over me like a tsunami. If you know, you know!

One cringe moment came along with "Mony, Mony" (TJ and the S). The last time I heard that song, I was chaperoning a senior prom on the Mount Washington.  At the prom, the attendees, in unison, embellished the chorus with some extra, uh, lyrics, which I am choosing not to include here. Fortunately, most of the recent audience was older, so while I still mentally heard those new words, I didn't in reality (or did I?).

The concert was good, but as an ofttimes purist, the popular studio version of the songs is my preference. It's like when I say there's no really good pizza or Chinese food near where I live; what I mean is it doesn't come close to what I grew with in and around Boston. It's all a matter of literal taste, but De gustibus non est disputandum, (As a total aside, there was one year during which I ate enough pizza and drank enough beer to add 40 pounds to my being.) 

Anyhow, that's it for now - just kinda like dipping my toe back in before the big dive. 

Thanks for stopping by. If you browse enough, you may even find something good! 

Later! 

WELCOME!

Greetings, and thanks for joining me for another week. 

I assume some of you are here because I mentioned my blog in my column. 

Because there is no formal setup for past entries (other than date), you'll have to browse. My suspicion is with some patience you might find something you like.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Kwanzaa, and a Happy New Year to all!

BACK IN THE DAY....

I remember when I was growing up (as much as I did), there were a few career choices that I considered. The bottom line is that I was never an aggressive go-getter and would have been happy with a $10,000 annual salary (remember, that was then; this is now). 

Among my passing job considerations were police officer, long-distance truck driver, actor, and writer. Along the way, I came close - years ago, I was a security guard and, more recently, a NH Bail Commissioner, an everyday actor (aren't we all), and was a regular columnist and have had a few smaller pieces of writing accepted and published. I also have driven a pickup truck since 2006 (the longest I have driven was twelve hours in a day).

Regarding salary, my original goal came at a time when candy bars were five cents, gasoline was about thirty cents a gallon, paperback books were 25c (35c for the 'thick ones'), record albums were $3.98, and homes were around $18,000. Things obviously are a lot different now!

I miss the old days (in retrospect, they really were pretty good), but I wouldn't want to be young today. It is such a different world on so many levels, but that's for another time. I am guessing that to many, these days will be the gool old days for them. Sad.

(By the way, if there is anything you might like to read from me, just ask. I will respond to almost everything!)

WHAT? WHAT? PART II

A lot can happen in six days (and it did) following my last post here!

Upon my wife's urging, I finally made an appointment to have my nearly complete and sudden loss of hearing (left ear) checked out. Between my work schedule and lots of other people needing care at my doctor's office, I had to make the appointment for next Tuesday (six days away). A nurse soon called me back saying she was concerned about my waiting that long, so I went to our local Urgent Care.

I got right in and was examined. I will spare you the details, but they involved lots of flushing and digging and flushing and digging, et cetera. The verdict? Unless the doctor was kidding, there was about an inch-and-a-half of compressed/compacted wax removed (disgusting wax [I was shown each new discovery]). In spite of the prodigious amount removed, he said I set no records. They said such removal is an almost daily occurrence. Apparently, when I thought I was cleaning my ear canal, I was in fact packing it in (think a muzzleloader). Sigh.

And, yes, I could hear again! If I had listened to my wife, I would have gone at least a week ago. (Here's the part she'll love: "Yes, dear, you were right! I was wrong." [I say that a lot {and deservedly so}]).

I have turned my new hearing aids way down to 1 and am still impressed with my new hearing. I would regularly crank our main TV up to 15 so I could hear it - tonight, it was set on 8. My desk TV was usually set on 71 - tonight it's on 55. I can hear the bathroom clock ticking off the seconds. 

The only problem so far is the background music played at work. I am hearing it, and depending on where I am, it sometimes conflicts with voices, and I have to move away.

Anyhow, that was my day today.

WHAT? WHAT?

So, it's about ten months since my last post, and I am still above ground (twenty seconds or twenty years left - none of us knows).

For anyone who is interested, a few of the high points (in no particular order). When I 'retired' in 2008, I had a couple of great years off during which I did very little (not a bad thing). I ended up as a part-time assistant at a local free advertising paper the PennySaver (NH). Mostly a fun job until I was no longer needed. 

Then I had a couple more years off, and through a series of circumstances, I ended up as a Walmart associate in Lawn and Garden, where I have been for the past fifteen months or so. I am there three days a week, and in the early months, someone described me as a 'tourist attraction' as people (former students and friends) would hear I was there and stop by to say Hi. That's the good thing about working there: all the people I get to see. The not-so-good thing is being on my feet for eight hours. It's tough (really tough some days), but I have endured.

The other news is last week I had another skin cancer removed (squamous cell). It was on (in?) the area above my left ear lobe. It is now clear and slowly healing, but I have temporarily (I hope) lost virtually all hearing in my left ear. I am hopeful as the wound heals, the hearing, such as it was) will return, which leads me to yet another big event: after years of declining hearing, I finally ordered a pair of behind-the-ear hearing aids. Before last October, hearing aids were ridiculously overpriced costing in the thousands of dollars, which is why I never got any - way too expensive.

Long story short, with the price drop, I went into 'Incognito' searching looking for "Best Inexpensive Hearing Aids." Almost instantly, my Facebook feed was jam-packed full of ads for hearing aids (a coincidence, I am sure). I settled on one company and bought a pair for $197. I will tell you more when I have tried them. The problem is my left ear is going to take some time to heal, so I will either just try the right one or wait to use both.

(UPDATE - I have found a different company selling hearing aids for $97 a pair. I like them better.)

Not much else to say - I am quite the homebody. I love being home doing nothing - that's where all my stuff is. I am quite happy sitting at my desk, smoking my pipe (I know; I know), and seeing where my Internet surfing takes me. 

Stay well!

CHINESE FOOD!

 

I had Chinese food tonight! By itself, that's not a big deal, except I really had a craving (it's been a while), and I am still around to enjoy it. I may not be here tomorrow, but today I still am, and because I could, I had Chinese food. 

The picture above is from 2005 following the first of numerous skin cancer surgeries; I have had several between then and now. There was an assortment of basal cells and squamous cells. The last one was a melanoma which was successfully removed as it was caught early.

I am in my 76th year and am at the point when I could have twenty seconds or twenty years left. It's not a matter of if but when. I have decided not to wait on certain things (I also bought a package of black licorice recently). 

I know my life choices are not always in my best interest, but that's okay. I have watched people around me get old, and I don't have the patience or grace to get there. There is a point I don't want to reach. I am not there yet, but there are some small signs.

At the moment, it's all good!

Anyhow, just some food for thought.

FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET!

I need to know I am not the only one!

I went out today to snow blow some small piles and minor mounds of snow that were left in the driveway, which was not the problem.

Long story short, while moving around, I came an atom's-width too close to the blue plastic tarp, which had covered the blower and had been tossed off to the side. In less time than it takes to blink, the whole tarp disappeared into the machine.

When I examined the situation, the textured plastic was totally and quite tightly wrapped around the auger blades and the impeller, It was so tight, it was like it was painted on.

I started with kitchen scissors which did little. Then I tried metal snips - again to no avail. After a break, I grabbed a utility knife/box cutter with a sliding blade. Managing not to slice any bodily parts, I finally got it all off. Tomorrow, I'll see if the snow blower still works.

You've all done something like that... haven't you?

Please tell me you have.