Nice while it lasted

There was a brief period before I retired when I began collecting Social Security, while at the same time continuing to work.  All legal and above-board, for I had reached the age where I could collect an unreduced benefit.  I just wanted to start the one before letting go of the other, to make sure it was up and running properly for a month or two, and only then packing it in.

Normally, my ceiling for impulse purchases was pretty low, left over from when I didn't have a job or any other consistent source of income.  After being given my unconditional release in 2008, there was severance and for a while, there was unemployment insurance, but after a couple of years without full-time employment, I felt as though I couldn't afford to spend a nickel more than absolutely necessary.  

But I got a job and saved my money, and eventually I understood that it was time to go.  It was really nice, though, those months of double-dipping.  I remember a steak dinner for PG's birthday, including appetizer and dessert, and I just handed over the Visa and tipped generously without a second thought for the cost.  That will no longer be the case.  No more lawn service; in spring I take over that job once more.  Always have been careful with money, and especially so now, since there won't be any more employment income.  Maybe I'll find a steak marked down for quick sale and grill it at home for her next birthday.

You can observe a lot...

Just another old movie on TCM, Johnny Angel, not a classic no matter what the channel says.  One scene with George Raft and Claire Trevor together at a table, I realized that there were sharp dark shadows on Raft's face, but in Trevor's shots, the shadows were softer and greyer.  Not the first time it's been done, I'm sure, but it's the first time I ever noticed it.  

A good, quiet day

PG is feeling much better now.  She's finished with the temporary meds that upset her stomach, so her appetite has returned.  With her pain meds, she feels like getting out of the house again.  

That's what we did today.  Bought bird seed at WBU, then a stop at Whole Foods with the intent to pick up some buttermilk (for baking) and a can of Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes for pizza sauce.  They had the former but not the latter. and that's the second straight time they've been sold out when I shopped there.  

The manager at WBU doesn't look like a businessman, but he is, remembering customer names and pulling up their prior purchases.  

At Whole Foods, it's possible to pay simply by holding my right hand above a sensor and having it scan my palm.  Some places, I have to insert the card into a machine; at others, like WBU, I can tap the card on the machine, and now a few stores can receive payment information from a card that is in an app on my phone.  Whole Foods dispenses with displaying a card at all.  No need to bother with cash or a check ever again.  Except I make a point of paying cash at the small local sub shop to save them the card charges.

Cold, windy, snow-covered.  Remembering that in just a few weeks, they'll be in the past and there will be wildflowers along the road again.    Probably numerous rabbits in the yard, too.  

Budget tightening:  going to drop the lawn care services we used last year.  Researching liquid weed-and-feed and will pull the mower out of mothballs.  Might need to get it tuned up first.  

Fact-checking the New York Times

I'd have thought the New York Times would have done a better job getting the facts straight, especially because it pertained to the hometown nine.  

There's a small window of baseball history and/or trivia that I've got a good handle on.  Brian Doyle, replacing the injured Willie Randolph, batted .192 in 52 regular-season at bats, hit .538 in the Series.  I mean, gee whiz, 1978 wasn't that long ago... was it?

UPDATE 1/21:

Begging the question

After publishing an obituary for Dr. Peter Fenwick, who had extensively studied near-death experiences, the New York Times collected readers' recollections.  

I read the eight short stories, and for the first time, I wondered, "These are the people who came back.  How many others got to that point and didn't return to life on Earth?  

If I reach that place with the bright light and the feeling of peace, and I see loved ones that I haven't seen since they died, why not stay?  If my favorite cat is there to greet me, I'll probably say "OK, I'm home now."

Saturday Evening Post

Forecast last night called for about an inch of snow, and that's what we got.  The day before, I'd seen someone outside the building where PG's dentist has his office, and he was using a battery-operated leaf blower to move snow off some branches behind a dumpster.  It gave me an idea.

If there is an inch of snow (or very little more) and if the snow is icy dry and not heavy and wet, then would a leaf blower clear the driveway and sidewalk better than a shovel?  There's not enough for the big snow thrower, and anyway I had put it back in the shed earlier in the week.  

The batteries had been charged after moving leaves for the last time in autumn, but by today both had dropped by about half.  I plugged one in to charge and clicked the other in place on the blower.  

Answer:  with about an inch of dry snow on the sidewalks and driveway, the leaf blower did just fine moving it onto the grass, at least until the battery ran down, which didn't take long on high.  On low, the snow barely ruffled.  But on high, while the battery still had a charge, I could aim the tube from side to side and hold it just above the surface of the snow, and it moved more at a given time than I could have with a shovel.  A narrower focus of the air would have helped give it more power.  

The best part was that since the sidewalk had been clear before the snow, using the blower cleaned virtually everything off, and the bit of powder that was left quickly melted in the sun.  I burned through both batteries before finishing the driveway, although not much was left.  Using a shovel on that area left more behind, but it was still a thin coating, and once the sun came out, the sun on the dark driveway soon melted everything and dried up.  

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Offered to help PG clean out the refrigerator, which was stuffed with leftovers from Christmas dinner.  I recall reading about a pro athlete who said that now, everyone's giving me things, and I'm thinking, where were they when I was growing up poor?  Then there's the Twilight Zone where Burgess Meredith's thick glasses fall off and break just as he has time enough to read at last.  Here at our house, we have lots of food -- much more than we had growing up -- but our appetites have diminished.  

Anyway, some of the excess had to be pitched, some went in the basement refrigerator and the rest went in its freezer.  The glass shelves are now clean, as are the clear plastic bins.  Next, the upstairs freezer.

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Gripping, isn't it?  

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Aldi for milk, bananas and a cucumber.  Walgreens for PG's medicine.  Her prescription plan didn't do much on the price, so the pharmacist checked around and found a "coupon" that brought it down by about two-thirds.  And hey, I found another penny at the register!

Now, time to practice.

Anyone can make a mistake

In the mailbox this morning was a message from Medicare with the information that an electronic Medicare Summary Notice is available.  With the help of the password program, I began logging in to Medicare.gov, but two-factor authorization is in place, so I pulled up the Authenticator app on my phone and typed in the 6-digit code -- and got a message that it was invalid.  

I waited a few seconds for another code, but it also came up as invalid.  One last try locked the account, so I changed the password successfully and started the process again.  

Fast forward through frustration and four-letter words.  I phoned Medicare and said no when the AI asked if I had said I was calling about CPAP.  "Talk to a human", I responded, and seconds later I was on hold with an estimated waiting time of 9 minutes.

In those 9 minutes, I realized that the Authenticator is set up for Logon.gov, which is for SSA.gov, not Medicare.gov, and that Medicare sends its codes via text.  With that misapprehension out of the way, I hung up, logged in and downloaded the eMSN.

My wife heard my frustration during the process, and said she was still glad I was doing it and not her.