What a Mess!

A man I didn’t know well but who was a good friend and business associate of the son-I-wish-I-had died in his sleep at 51 of still unknown causes. He owned the auction house where we’ve been sending stuff from my house as I’ve been downsizing and where I had planned to send at least two more loads---one before the end of the month with some furniture and miscellaneous antiques and another before listing/selling the house. Tim is still in shock. He’s says the auctioneer had no known health issues, worked hard every day and was very fit. Better than half of Tim’s livelihood depends on having access to an auction house since he deals in closing out estates. Banks call him, real estate agendas call him. People like me downsizing call him. At this point in time, it doesn’t look like anyone in the family can take over the business---even temporarily to deal with the advertised auctions in the queue. He had four brothers, two teen daughters, a contentious x-wife who cheated on him and no will or other paper work to give anyone a legal standing to take charge. What a mess!

It affects me, yes. But at least I have plenty of time and I have confidence that Tim will find another auction house to work with before the spring when I have to switch gears and start getting the house and yard ready to list it. I had decided before hearing this news to quit all my e-Baying except for a few first edition books and send whatever collectibles I still have worth selling to the auction house. I quickly reversed that idea so now it looks like I’ll still be e-Baying until the end of the year even though I'm thoroughly burned out on doing it. Ya, I can hear the voice out there in cyberspace saying, “Why don’t you just donate what’s left?” and to that I’d point out that I just sold a beaded Victorian purse for $49 on e-Bay and I have a few things left like a German built pencil sharper from the 1800s that will sell for over $300 and I’m not willing to let a picker shopping at Goodwill to buy stuff like that for a song then resell it when I still have time left to sell it myself. Down the road closer to the move I will donate, sure, but not now.

This week I met four of my Gathering Girls pals at the Guy Land Cafeteria for a two and a half hour lunch. We decided that we’ll meet two more times this fall, then suspend our bimonthly tradition until the end of January. With flu season coming and holiday and family parties that could turn out to be super spreaders for Covid-19 it seems safer to avoid public places. We always have such a great time and I wish Zoom meetings were an option for us but half the ladies aren’t computer literate enough to even do a Facebook Group chat---we tried that already---so Zoom would never work. Life goes on, and my social life sucks.

I was disappointed to see the manager/chief cook at the Guy Land Cafeteria wearing one of those little 2-3 inch wide plastic shields that rides on your chin that don’t look like they’d contain germs, and germaphobic that I am I asked him if he thinks that style mask does as good of a job as those all the other employees were all wearing. He said the health department approves them and I have no reason to think he’s fibbing about that. I've been going in that place for nearly two decades and I know the guy well enough to have that conversation but at the Breakfast Only Café across the street, where I also stopped this week, I wasn’t as civil. Three of their five employees were wearing their masks with their noses hanging out and when I paid my bill, I said to the cashier, “When you have three people walking about with their noses hanging out of their masks it doesn’t inspire people to come back until after the pandemic has past. You might want to pass that on to our boss.” (Usually I just think these thoughts and never speak up.) She glared at one of the waitress’s near-by who had her nose hanging out, and replied, “I will.” I could tell it bugged her as much as it made me mad. I was mad because I’ve missed going to this place and I wanted to feel safe there. 

However, I'm not sure for how long any of us in my state are going to feel safe going forward. When I got home I heard on the news that the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that our governor "lacks the authority to extend or declare states of emergency in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic." Every thing Governor Whitmer put into place to prevent the spread of the virus---mask requirements in public places, social distancing, limiting capacity in certain businesses, etc., etc. Out the window. Now Democrats are scrambling to stop the reversals of her mandates by rewriting them as health department mandates and you know those will get challenged with new cases working their way up to the state Supreme Court. Some people are determined to live in a super spreader environment. Time to donate to her legal defense fund. They are burying the governor in lawsuits. What a mess!

And in late breaking news: the FBI just arrested thirteen militia members for plotting to kidnap Governor Whitmer then put her on 'trial' for treason followed by executing her. They pooled their money, bought explosives, a high powered laser and even did a couple of practice runs while other militia members planned a takeover of our state capital in an armed insurrection. She's a gutsy woman, though. After the plot was publicly announced she called Trump out for encouraging the militia groups involved when he tweeted "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" He gets daily briefings on all threats foreign and domestic. He had to have known about the plot when he sent that tweet out a couple of times, which makes me wonder how anyone can doubt he dog whistles to the darker side of humanity. Why he does it is the only question in my mind. What a hot mess America is in right now! ©

 

Are Happy Days Coming Again?

Maybe not right away but I’m hopeful that happy days are on the horizon. Heavy construction starts back up in my state tomorrow which means the continuum care campus where I have a hefty deposit down on a unit will be able to move forward again. It remains to be seen whether or not my investment income will recover enough for me to move there when it’s completed. And lawn care people were allowed back in action last week. I haven’t seen hide or hair of mine but I’m not worried about that. Yet. He's way behind on spring clean up jobs. My irrigation company has scheduled my spring start-up appointment and by the time this post is published that service should be completed---he’ll be the first person to be inside my house since the beginning of March when my cleaning service was last here. But the part of my life that involves senior hall activities are all on hold until June 8^th. They even canceled a day trip that I signed up for to visit a prison down state that was supposed to take place in mid-June. I’m kind of glad about that. After being under stay-at-home orders since March 15^th I’ve lost interest in seeing the insides of a prison.  

And my big news---drum roll please---is the lot of 100 things I had sitting in limbo at the local auction house since the beginning of March finally had its day. I was worried that the lag in time would make people lose interested in what was advertised so long ago but the bidding was strong. I got $262 for my taxidermy desert (?) cat from the turn-of-the-century that I really didn’t want to let go of in the first place and all that time waiting for the auction to take place had me wanting to go pick her back up. I loved that silly cat and the memories of the day my husband bought her. Knowing what she sold for makes me believe she went to a home that will appreciate her as much as I did. Heck, no one who ever came over seemed to like her but me so I was worried she'd only go for a buck or two and I'd regret sending her off. Yes, I have attachment issues.

The auction house starts everything out at a buck which always makes me nervous, but it’s fun for the bidders. I also had a 1950s Daisy be-be gun in the auction that I would have put on e-Bay but I couldn’t find a box long enough and I was happy it went for over $100, almost as much as it would have sold for on e-Bay. Local auctions are unpredictable, though. An antique iron screw padlock that I’d had on e-Bay that didn’t get any bidders at all went for $68 locally. But I was royally disappointed that a 1940s fan-shaped pressed glass luncheon set that was my mother’s only went for two dollars and after I pay the auctioneer his dollar listing fee---well, you do the math. It wasn’t good. I didn’t want to let go of that set either but I have too many dishes for the space I’ll be moving to. On e-Bay you can set your minimum bid so you have more control of the outcome and those luncheon sets do decent there, but packing 24 pieces of glass to ship safely is not my idea of fun. When you put a group of stuff in local auctions you’re better off not looking at final bids individually because collective the total usually exceed everyone’s expectation. Auctions all have sleepers, even for people like me who are tuned into the collectibles market and my sleeper was Fossil watch advertising piece in the image of a gas pump that stood 6 inches high and went for $41. I didn’t think another soul on earth would pay more than a few bucks for that piece of plaster besides my husband and he paid fifty cents for it.

When lot auction money comes in, I seem to go on mini spending sprees at Amazon. Here’s what I bought after the auction above: 1) a pretty turban to cover up my shaggy hair since salons won’t open any time soon, but I sent it back because it was supposed to be white and black and they sent brown and black; 2) a long-handed shoe horn because I was sick of only having one in the house when I put my shoes on in two different locations; 3) a hardcopy, non-fiction book by Jennifer Weiner titled Hungry Heart, Adventures in Life, Love and Writing; 4) a Fitfort fitness tracker watch to replace my Fitbit that quit working. I would have gotten another Fitbit but its app kept crashing my computer when I tried to uninstall/reinstall it which I'd need to do to get new Fitbit to work without involving my cell phone. The Fitfort will even take my blood pressure so I’m looking forward to that feature. I’m not looking forward to having its dashboard on my phone’s tiny screen but Fitbit is the only tracker I’ve found that is Windows 10 compatible…at least it used to be compatible before their most recent auto-software update; and 5) last but not least I bought a billfold. Do you know how hard it is to find them these days that includes a place to put a checkbook? It cost the price I got for the Fossil gas pump but it will probably last me the rest of my life. Writing checks will soon go the way of buggy whips and I’ll be one of the last holdouts. 

Things are looking up here in River City and hopefully I’ll start feeling in control of something besides the decision to get out of bed in the mornings. In the meantime we're still under stay-at-home orders until the end of May and if we do go out for food, medical care or to work in businesses being allowed to open, masks and 6 feet social distancing are required. ©

October Job List Woes

Can you believe it’s almost November! I can’t. I don’t want it to be November because that means we’re getting closer and closer to snow season. I’m not ready for that. I still haven’t done a few things around the yard that I should---divide some plants, cover the A/C unit and what outdoor furniture I still have left, throw out my pots of perennials.. I sent a text to my lawn care guy to make sure I’m on his schedule for a fall cleanup and he’s coming tomorrow. At least that’s what he says. In the spirit of fairness it’s been so wet and rainy and the leaves aren’t all down off the trees yet. It’s just that he doesn’t inspire trust in me after the fiasco over my deck staining project last summer. At least with text communication I have a record of what the daffy-as-a-doorknob guy says. Judge Judy would be proud.

On the good side of fall jobs to check off my list, the furnace guy was here and mine passed inspection with flying colors. That’s always a good feeling with a unit that is almost two decades old. While we were down the basement I mentioned I needed to check my sump pump to make sure it was working and he did it for me. He said I probably need a new back flow flapper so in a week or so when my schedule gets less crowded I’ll call the plumber. I’m so afraid of falling into that sump pump pit and I should have tipped the furnace guy for checking it for me, but it didn’t occur to me until a minute ago. So who’s the daffy one now? 

At least my car is ready for winter. It sends me e-mails so I can’t neglect getting oil changes and the battery, tires, fluids and wiper blades checked. With only 21,000 miles on the Trax she still likes going to the dealership for her bi-annuals so she can say ‘hello’ to the guy who paired us up. I just have to remember to stay away from the new car showroom because the last time I "looked" I bought the Trax with no plans or forethought to replace my 2-3 year old car. It only took one question from the salesman, “How do you like your Chevy Cruze?” And I told him about how I couldn’t get my friend’s walker in it and I hated how low the trunk was and the fact that I missed having a cargo area and, “Oh, did I mention I hate the sick-baby-poop color? It didn't grow on my no matter how good of a deal you gave me when I bought it.”

One of the things I’ve had on my fall schedule was an appointment with my audiologist. My hearing aids are living on borrowed time and I think in the spring I might get new ones. I could afford new ones now but by ordering them in the late spring that will switch my yearly ‘ear checks’ to a time of the year when I’m less busy. I did the same thing with my Reclast infusion for my bones when I saw the internist two weeks ago. The infusion center is so busy that the doctor’s order for my infusion would have put it right at Christmas so we decided to cancel it and start ordering them with my April bi-annuals. I’ll be eating a lot of spinach in the meantime and popping calcium pills like they are candy. Just kidding. I don’t over-medicate but occasionally I don’t get my second calcium pill in for the day because it has to be taken with meals and sometimes I don’t eat after having a late lunch when I’m out and about. So I’m changing to the kind of calcium pills you don’t need to take with food which are big enough to qualify for horse suppositories. I hate them but I hate winter appointments more. 

About the only thing left on my fall job list is to check the expiration dates on my over-the-counter flu and cold stuff and restock my stash of Kleenex, frozen OJ and soup plus buy some foods for the freezer in case I get snowed in. I don’t like fall and how busy it keeps me, I think I’ve established that to everyone’s satisfaction. 

The auction house where Tim, the son-I-wish-I-had, took four loads of stuff of mine has not paid me for the last batch and I’ve been expecting a check for roughly $700. I tried calling a couple of times over a week’s time and got a recording that they “aren’t taking phone calls at this time” and I’ve tried e-mailing but they aren’t answering. So I’ve texted Tim and he’s going to drive out there and see what’s going on. If they’ve gone out of business it’s going to affect Tim’s business big time and it will force me to get another backup plan in the event that I don’t get all my downsizing done it time for my move. There are so many moving parts involved in moving and starting a new style of living and it will be a miracle if something doesn’t put a hitch in my giddy-up. 

One day I got obsessed with wondering where the heat ducts will be in the CCC unit I have a deposit on because it will make a difference on how many and where I can put bookcases when I move in. So I called them up to ask and was told I wasn’t the only one who wanted to know. The answer is they’re in the ceiling. In the ceiling? In the ceiling! Who does that? So now I’m obsessing about how I’m going to dry my mittens and boots in the winter with no register to put them on. Yes, I know, If I wasn’t obsessing about one thing or another I’d be obsessing about not having anything to obsess about.  ©