Sanguine Tenacious Tidings

Time and Then More Time

For most of the world, today is “Spring Forward,” when clocks are set an hour ahead. In your entry today, write about time and how you make the most of it. What is worthy of spending your time on? What is not? In your opinion, what do people spend too much time on these days?

AGING

I have a large house. I clean. I do all laundry, dishes, cleaning. Many of the rooms are in a manner of remodeling. I do the painting. Plastering on drywall, grout on flooring when needed. That's not a daily job though. Only a job when we work on some room or another. We used to get wind and snow on the balcony. Two years ago in the summer K and I put a new roof on that part of the balcony then in the fall I sealed it up on the inside with foam sealer. Now, it does not get rain or snow or get wind up there at all.

I installed a cat door in my room out to the balcony and put the cat boxes out there. Except in a time of exceptional cold the cats go out there to eat and play some. If the weather is 10 degrees or below I shut the cat door and bring in boxes.

Daily, I do the banking and bill paying, dishes, laundry, vacuuming and dusting, window washing which is badly needed now. And, we have a wood furnace which I am trying to phase out. But, this year I loaded all the wood into the woodshed after my son delivered it. and , later from wood shed to furnace room sporadically as needed. Ninety percent of the wood that has to be split I'm splitting. I'm getting ready to set up a solar system which I purchased last fall. Some of our heat is now done with one room heaters which would easily run on a solar setup. K is now helping with the wood furnace now since Christmas. We have a proper BTU propane furnace for forced air heat, that was installed in 2000 but up to now have a difficult time purchasing fuel for it.

When I'm on line I write sometimes, blog, review. Not as much as I should, I think. Since fall I've been playing Township on my kindle. Township is kind of addicting I think, but do I care, I'm 75. I read Bible daily. Exercise with either Silver Sneakers or FitOn Both apps have video you can follow. This can be regular or sporadic. Also, do yoga. Would like to join a class to my knowledge there is not one in the area.

I'm usually awake by 5 a.m. that's when I do some of my reading and exercise, clean cat boxes, bird cages, and feed all the creatures, feed the pony. If it is a nice day when I go to do pony chores or barn cleaning I take the dog and when the chore is finished we walk somewhere. Depending on cold or snow it is a long or short walk. My dog is short and small so deep snow keeps him inside. If I'm having cabin fever which is possible in the winter. I walk wherever the plowing is done. 2 inches of snow I can walk around the house. Two feet of snow probably to the barn and bird feeders is as far as I want to go.

I try to do heavy work and laundry and food preparation by 1:00 so I can sit and read until 3 or 4 when I go out to do evening chores with the pony. After that it is more reading, play Township or whatever until TV at about 5. I can color or knit if the book I am reading is audio.

I review the books I read online at Goodreads but, I've been really lax about that since early in 2019. I have not been taking the monthly reading challenge since then either.

I probably don't sit more than an hour before the dog wants out or the wood furnace needs fed. There are two flights of stairs in our home. and I climb up and down them about 30 or more times a day. Feeding the furnace, doing laundry or upstairs cleaning.

I got a new LG Phone in the fall. LG put an exercise app on it that notifies you how many steps you take in a day.

I put my age in the app so every now and again it tells me I should not sit long periods of time at my age. I don't know why but, this makes me laugh every time I get a notification. I laugh because I lay the phone on the stand beside my chair and rarely take it with me while I accomplish whatever I am doing. The phone is the only thing that is not moving all day. I try to remember to slide it into my coat pocket when I go outside. I think it would not be fun to have some thing go wrong when I am to far from the house to get help. But, often I just run out without it. If I take it with me up and down stairs and out to the barn the app will praise me at the end of the day for increasing my steps that day and encourage me to keep up the good work. Another chuckle for the day.

I don't watch a lot of TV. Again TV can be sporadic. K likes auto races or football. Over the years he has taught me enough about football so I can follow the play. I bought us an amazon fire stick for Christmas, so sometimes we watch a movie on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. There are a couple of programs we like from 8 to 9. We retire to our rooms from 7 to 9. to read or sleep. Once in a great while a movie might keep us up late.

Most cooking has been my job over the years but in the last year we just stopped eating the regular meals I used to cook. We are eating more prepared foods from stores. K likes the chunky types of soups Campbell makes. I like salmon patties, with salads or chicken pieces with salads. Sometimes I cook still and sometimes it is every person for themselves. Freedom to eat what and when you want to makes me feel good.

K still works part time. So, he gets out more than I do. That is some what of a problem. We have one car. I still have a license but, don't go anywhere social.

The older you get the easier it is to live in a less confined, regulated, scheduled life.

Some of my habits remain scheduled. Pets and pony feeding and cleaning, making the bed, in the morning, keeping the dishes done and trash moved out, feeding ourselves but not always on the same clock time, laundry cycled over and over. Still, there is lots of leeway for chores and reading and TV. I put the dog out at 5 a.m. or so. Then, try to get to the barn by 9. Between those hours I do lots of different chores or read.

Sometimes I think I am wasting my time. Then I think I'm suppose to.

So, until I blog again. See Ya. P.S. I laughed at the news caster who said to be sure to change your clocks. They change themselves on computers, watches, kindles, and phones now.