Hurricane Party

We, or some of us, are all a dither about Hurricane Dorian, which is currently in the Atlantic just north of Puerto Rico. My sisters have gone to the grocery store to stock up. When they return, we will drive south and meet my brother-in-law at Wildwood to transfer them and their groceries to his truck. I'll head for Key B, and they will go to Plant City to pick up the yard and secure whatever needs securing.

I, on the other hand, hope to go to the Marlins game scheduled for 7:00 tonight. Ah, the luxury of living in our little condo. Originally, Dorian was aimed at lower Florida, so Grant tested the shutters. They slide close and latch. That means we would just move the plants, two chairs, an ottoman, and three little tables in from the balcony; put William in a box and Annie in her crate for traveling; pack some clothes; get important papers; close the shutters; and leave.

That is certainly better than putting shutters on 70' of porch and all the windows at our old house. Even aluminum shutters get heavy if you have to install that many. And people get cranky.

If we do have to leave Key B, we will pick up our grandson (University of Miami sophomore) at the Viscaya Metrorail station and head north on I-95. We figure it would take, at most, three hours to get to our son's house in Fort Lauderdale. The house that we installed hurricane windows on last year, so no shutters to put up there. Good decision. BTW, I predict landfall will be North Carolina. What do the professionals know?

Sweetwater Preserve

Before all this hullabaloo, we were in Gainsville and birded at Sweetwater Preserve seeing the usual suspects for this time of year: gallinule (purple and common), osprey eating a fish, herons and egrets. Meager picking, but it is August. There was a garter snake crossing the boardwalk.

Victoria Water Lilies  

We went to Kanapaha Gardens to see the potential world record Giant Victoria Water Lily. The staff is measuring every day and hope for a Guinness Book of Records award. Since they had not marked which leaf was the one being measured, I can't point out the record winner, but I assume I saw it. I'll claim to if ever asked.

We also attended a Dining for Women potluck at an absolutely lovely townhouse which gave me another chance to interview potential apartments. It had a lot more living space than our condo, which we want in the next home. I decided a north-facing balcony is too dark. I would like a screened-in porch rather than a glassed-in sun room. Most of all, I need some sun rather than dark woods so that we have flowering plants and shrubs nearby. I really enjoy watching the butterflies and humming birds that come to the salvias around my friend's porch. Just trees is too sterile.

No First Floor Apartment in a Flood Zone 

The townhouse is in a group of maybe 50 homes in either duplex or quadraplex groups that back up on Hog Creek in Gainesville. Perhaps if we could find a south facing one this would be a good place to land. Near my best friend, biking close by, lots of activities and art in the area. The killer would be making one of these apartments ADA compliant. Four steps down from the driveway or two steps down from the garage is not acceptable. Maybe an architect could design a ramp. I'll check prices next week. May be cheaper after Hurricane Dorian.


Update: the Marlins beat the Reds 4 - 3, all home runs. Plus I bought a VIP parking pass on StubHub for $6 ($9.50 including charges) which beats $15 on the Marlins' site for a regular pass. Definitely doing that again.

Understanding Medicare

The project of the month is understanding Medicare, Medi-gap, and Medicare Advantage. When I told Grant he would be helping me, he grumbled he'd rather keep working and not retire. Which is a possibility. Just in case, I made an appointment with SHINE, a program that gives free, unbiased health insurance information to seniors. Kathy, our representative, knew everything we need to start the process. As I understand it, first decision is whether to use Medicare, which is accepted nation-wide but we would pay for, or to use Medicare Advantage, which has no cost but uses a county-wide network of doctors. In either case, we need to decide which specific plan. Some have higher co-pays and deductibles but more choices of doctors or benefits. Others are cheaper but more restricted.

Best of all, Kathy had URLs of websites where we can enter our specific information and find out which insurance is best for us. That means Mr. Computer will have a part in the process. Easy for him to type in all his drugs's name to ascertain which Medicare Part D would be the cheapest for his list. Better him than me. Since I take no drugs regularly, I just need the cheapest Part D available.

Grocery Store Ready For Game  

Feeling satisfied with having made this much progress, I decided to take the rest of this week off and travel with my sister to Orlando. Not to Mickey Mouse Land, but to see my son and daughter-in-law on the east side of town, then over to my daughter and granddaughter's house.

Originally Grant and I had planned to attend the University of Miami v University of Florida football game at the stadium in Orlando on Saturday night. I decided I just couldn't do all the walking that would involve, so I sold our tickets, netting $205 over cost. Nice.

Same Old

Still healing, still watching iguanas, still hanging out at home. At least my sister Betsy is visiting from New Zealand, so I've had some entertainment. I can hobble to the pool with my cane, and we have enjoyed swimming each morning. Since I can drive, we've gone to the phone store to get her a sym card and visited Grant at work for lunch on the patio overlooking Biscayne Bay. We even went to a Marlins game which was fun, especially since they beat the LA Dodgers 13-7. But mostly we've been in the apartment because walking wears me out.

Grant and I did meet with financial planners from TIAA. As soon as I get statements from all our accounts, and we hear from UM Benefits about pension details, they are going to crunch numbers. We are committed to low cost index funds. Since we have Social Security and the UM pension which will be there unless the world goes to hell, and it may, I know inflation is our biggest financial enemy. Even at 2%, it just keeps eating away at our assets.

Translating this into action is my bugaboo. I've asked the planners for two things: a specific balance of stocks to bonds, and an annual date on which I must re-balance our portfolio. Once we are set up, and the date is on the calendar, I know I'll follow through. The silly thing is that I could pick the ratio myself since there are rules of thumbs, like the percentage of stocks should be 120 - our age. This would move us toward each year to more conservative investments, while still having our assets grow so we don't run out of money. Yet, having a professional's confirmation of my actions gives me much comfort. Is that lame? Yes.

In the meantime, Betsy and I chat and chat. We do love to talk. Our sister Peg, who lives in Plant City, FL, was supposed to join us, but, after waiting several months, her husband was finally scheduled for an out-patient procedure this week, and she had to stay and take care of him afterwards. She claimed he's being a model patient. Could be true. Perhaps next week she can come down, or we can drive up to central Florida, maybe even Gainsville.

How will the iguanas do if I'm not sitting in the living room watching them? I'm willing to take that chance.

Dragonflies

The air is filled with dragonflies. I can see them flying at tree-level above the street between our condo building and the one opposite. It has been raining, so surely the mosquitoes have hatched, and the dragonflies have good eating.

Yet I haven't seen or heard a single little sucker. Granted, for the past three weeks, I have been inside, hobbling along with my walker. Still, I'd have bet that one or two would have gotten inside the screen on our balcony. Maybe even laid eggs in William's water bowl as they did at our house. Occasionally a larva would hatch, and the adult mosquito would be buzzing around in the auto-fill tank on the back of the bowl.

Other than a few blue jays and doves plus iguanas, the dragonflies are about the only fauna I've seen in the village. I have heard a woodpecker, but I am amazed how sterile this place is. Palm trees and grass do not support much wildlife. Thank goodness for the state park at the end of the island. Even Crandon Park is fairly bereft of native birds. Too much asphalt parking lot and golf course. I hope it gets better when migration starts.

At the Marlins Game  

My pelvis is healing, of course slower than I'd like. Sleeping is getting easier because I can be on my side for a few minutes which is a great improvement. I can drive, however I can't walk very far even with the walker, so no grocery shopping for me.  Last week I could barely sit; this week I was able to go to a Marlins game with Grant and a friend. Like the doctor said, I'm better every day.

This episode has reinforced my decision that any place we move to has to be ADA-compliant. If one of us were in a wheelchair, we could not get into this apartment, with its step-up from the parking lot to the lobby and elevator and again into our apartment. Four inches isn't much but it is a barrier.

In the meantime, I sit and watch iguanas and dragonflies.

Worn Out Phrases

On the way home from handing our granddaughter back to her mother, we stopped by for a short visit with a dear friend who is three-quarters way through chemo and radiation for colon cancer. She looks and feels like hell, tired and drained, and is frustrated with the whole situation. She said she'd been sick so long it felt like forever.

It reminded me of when I was about 8 months along in one of my pregnancies. I was completely tired of being pregnant. I wasn't sick. I didn't have any big pregnancy-related problems. I was just weary of waddling, of not sleeping well, of having to sit at the doctor's office, of struggling to get into and out of the car. The 24/7-ness of being pregnant was exhausting. If only pregnancy were a butcher's apron that I could take off once in a while and hang on a hook, even just for an hour.

I knew I would not be pregnant the rest of my life. But in the moment, it sure seemed like it, and it didn't help to have people tell me I only had a month to go. Easy for them to say.

I struggled to find words to say to my friend. Assuming she can tolerate it, she only has 5 more radiation treatments. But I'm not the one with nausea and exhaustion. I'm not facing surgery. I decided it was enough to sit together for a little bit. We will have good times soon. Now she needs to spend all of her energy on staying alive through the cure, not listening to platitudes.