A really great day!
How do you come from a downer? You take a day and do something that you have never done before! And what did we do? We drove out toStockbridge, Massachusetts and went to the Norman Rockwell Museum! The day was beautiful, so was the ride, and so was the experience. Naturally, the museum visit did not fill up the whole day. To accomplish that we went to the local botanical garden(a terrible waste of time and money), a pottery shop(everything way over priced), a mobile artists shop(we have no place to put one), and a store where locally made extracts are sold(not bad - but we really didn't need any).
The ride took 3 hours one way so our 13 hour trip consisted of 6 hours on the road, 6 hours visting local sites, and 1 hour eating at a restaurant on the way home. A lengthy time - but a good time. We're now going to plan other 1 day excursions throughout New England before the summer is over.
Tomorrow is another baseball game for my grandson in the morning, the some trim painting in the garage in the afternoon, and who knows what after that? Keeping busy is the name of the game.
It's great to be able to do all these activities without feeling tired.
I've found that old age doesn't mean packing it all in and awaiting the grim reaper.
I'm really enjoying the gift of this extra time...
Bob
June 24, 2010 10:55 PM
All good things must come to an end!
I've always been forthrightly up front and honest with this blog so I feel obliged to reveal today's bit of news which was certainly not what I wanted to here. My company(Nortel) has been in bankruptcy since January last year. After all this time, they have decided to no longer support their employees who are on long term disability and will terminate the premium payments as of August 31st. This was coupled with the other good news that effective that date I will be laid off.
So, I guess that means that I still have the summer to enjoy:) The corollary to all of this is that they have terminated all health insurance obligations as well. Not just to us LTD-ers but to those who are on rertirement as well. What a screw job!
For me, this is not totaly unexpected and cuts short my stay on long term disability by 8 months. For those much younger, the possibility of collecting until age 65 has come to a close and they will have to seek other avenues for resources. Social Security Disability Insurance is available - but it is a pittance!
As of September 1, I'll start with Medicare and unemployment insurance. Life continues apace.
As I've said many times, take nothing for granted...
Bob
I've always been forthrightly up front and honest with this blog so I feel obliged to reveal today's bit of news which was certainly not what I wanted to here. My company(Nortel) has been in bankruptcy since January last year. After all this time, they have decided to no longer support their employees who are on long term disability and will terminate the premium payments as of August 31st. This was coupled with the other good news that effective that date I will be laid off.
So, I guess that means that I still have the summer to enjoy:) The corollary to all of this is that they have terminated all health insurance obligations as well. Not just to us LTD-ers but to those who are on rertirement as well. What a screw job!
For me, this is not totaly unexpected and cuts short my stay on long term disability by 8 months. For those much younger, the possibility of collecting until age 65 has come to a close and they will have to seek other avenues for resources. Social Security Disability Insurance is available - but it is a pittance!
As of September 1, I'll start with Medicare and unemployment insurance. Life continues apace.
As I've said many times, take nothing for granted...
Bob
June 23, 2010 10:45 PM
Getting started again!
I finally got my garage project underway by painting half the garage floor today. It's pretty hot and humid out there but you jst pour the paint on the floor and spread it out with a roller so it's not too bad,
However, it takes 72 hours before I can do anything with it. So, I'll wait until Sunday to move everything over to the painted side and paint the other side. It still takes 7 total days after the painting before I can drive a car over it. Then comes trim painting and shelving. It should take a while as I'm starting to get busy next week with tours and my architecture class begins.
However, even if I wanted to relax today I couldn't. My wife's monitor went. It turned out to be the transformer. Fortunately, I have a few since I ordered extras the last time that I ordered them.
Then, a strange thing happened. The air conditioner condensate pump wasn't working so that there was water all over the cellar floor. I went and got another pump. However, before I installed it, I decided to check the outlet that it was plugged into first. It turned out that the upper socket was still working but the lower socket was not! What happened to it, I don't know! But, it allowed to return the new pump without ever taking it out of the box and I replaced the outlet. Maybe the pump caused the problem. If so, I know where to go to get a replacement.
I just seem to keep busy. It's good - otherwise, I'd die(maybe die is a poor choice of words) of boredom...
Bob
I finally got my garage project underway by painting half the garage floor today. It's pretty hot and humid out there but you jst pour the paint on the floor and spread it out with a roller so it's not too bad,
However, it takes 72 hours before I can do anything with it. So, I'll wait until Sunday to move everything over to the painted side and paint the other side. It still takes 7 total days after the painting before I can drive a car over it. Then comes trim painting and shelving. It should take a while as I'm starting to get busy next week with tours and my architecture class begins.
However, even if I wanted to relax today I couldn't. My wife's monitor went. It turned out to be the transformer. Fortunately, I have a few since I ordered extras the last time that I ordered them.
Then, a strange thing happened. The air conditioner condensate pump wasn't working so that there was water all over the cellar floor. I went and got another pump. However, before I installed it, I decided to check the outlet that it was plugged into first. It turned out that the upper socket was still working but the lower socket was not! What happened to it, I don't know! But, it allowed to return the new pump without ever taking it out of the box and I replaced the outlet. Maybe the pump caused the problem. If so, I know where to go to get a replacement.
I just seem to keep busy. It's good - otherwise, I'd die(maybe die is a poor choice of words) of boredom...
Bob
June 21, 2010 11:45 PM
A mixed bag!
We went to my grandson's baseball game this evening. Her didn't bat too well(striking out twice) and he missed a fairly easy catch in right field but he redeemed by making a really nifty catch out there. His team is in the playoffs and they won the game. Off to a good start.
Nothing else happened today other than my wife bringing her mother back home at the ned of her 4 day visit.
Beautiful weather continues and, tomorrow, we celebrate our anniversary with some friends.
Always seems to be something going on...
Bob
We went to my grandson's baseball game this evening. Her didn't bat too well(striking out twice) and he missed a fairly easy catch in right field but he redeemed by making a really nifty catch out there. His team is in the playoffs and they won the game. Off to a good start.
Nothing else happened today other than my wife bringing her mother back home at the ned of her 4 day visit.
Beautiful weather continues and, tomorrow, we celebrate our anniversary with some friends.
Always seems to be something going on...
Bob
June 20, 2010 11:45 PM
A belated Happy Father's Day to all you(us) fathers!
A nice day. Beautiful weather, my mother-in-law is still visiting, and my son and his two daughters came over for the day. So it was enjoyable.
But, the celebrating continues. We don't clebrate the start of summer which is tomorrow. But we do celebrate our wedding anniversary on Tuesday which is number 42. It seems like yesterday when we got married - time certainly does fly.
Not much else to comment on. As usual, healthwise I'm doing fine.
At church this morning, I did one of the readings. In the pews sat the parents of a fellow who passed away from leukemia two years ago. As we have one combined service for the summer, this is the first time that we have been together since my illness. Though I had wanted to meet with them after church, I'm not sure that they felt the same way as they left before church ended. I don't know if seeing me in such good health brings home what could have been for them and just wasn't meant to be. I guess that I can understand such reasoning. I'm not quite sure how I would react if I were in their position. Hopefully they will be there again before the summer is over.
This disease and its aftermath place in positions that you never thought you would be in...
Bob
A nice day. Beautiful weather, my mother-in-law is still visiting, and my son and his two daughters came over for the day. So it was enjoyable.
But, the celebrating continues. We don't clebrate the start of summer which is tomorrow. But we do celebrate our wedding anniversary on Tuesday which is number 42. It seems like yesterday when we got married - time certainly does fly.
Not much else to comment on. As usual, healthwise I'm doing fine.
At church this morning, I did one of the readings. In the pews sat the parents of a fellow who passed away from leukemia two years ago. As we have one combined service for the summer, this is the first time that we have been together since my illness. Though I had wanted to meet with them after church, I'm not sure that they felt the same way as they left before church ended. I don't know if seeing me in such good health brings home what could have been for them and just wasn't meant to be. I guess that I can understand such reasoning. I'm not quite sure how I would react if I were in their position. Hopefully they will be there again before the summer is over.
This disease and its aftermath place in positions that you never thought you would be in...
Bob
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