The dogs couldn’t wait to get to the big green roll-on/roll-off dumpster today, the one they were so wary of last time we walked up our street. Well, no wonder … it was new then but it’s a known entity now.
Our HOA rented the dumpster for spring cleaning; specifically brush and tree trimmings from our lots. We’ve been told it’s not for garbage or household junk. In past years it was placed on our subdivision’s through street. Drivers and dog walkers from adjoining subdivisions always discovered it and sneaked back at night to offload their shit, much to our annoyance, so this time the HOA talked a homeowner on one of our dead-end side streets into letting Waste Management place it on his lot, where it can’t be seen from the through street.
But here’s the thing: 33 of us, through our HOA dues, chipped in to rent the dumpster. Just two or three residents have already filled it with branches, dead brush, and trimmings. The early birds done got the worms!
Actually I’m not too upset, because we don’t need to use the dumpster. We pay a landscaping service to come by once a month, and they take our trimmings away afterward. About half the residents here do the same thing, so maybe it’s not that big a deal. We’re all supposed to meet up outdoors the first Saturday in May to clean up common areas, though, and as I say the dumpster’s already full. Where will those trimmings go? Glad I’m not on the HOA board right about now. It’s wonderful to be able to bitch and let someone else jump through hoops.
I gave myself the first Ozempic injection last Friday. I felt light-headed afterward, but that could have been psychosomatic … I admit to being wigged out over the experience. Besides that, though, I noticed an immediate loss of, well, not appetite, but hunger. Since then I’ve been eating less … a lot less, I think. It’ll be interesting to see if any cravings come back before this Friday’s injection. Anyway, this calls for a reward, so I bought myself another watch. Which I have yet to tell Donna about. It’s coming from China, so it may be a while before I get it.
We had been taking our cars to an old-time gas station & garage in town, the kind that used to be everywhere but have almost vanished now, replaced with Jiffy Lubes and the like. The owner retired and no one took over, so his place is closed and we need a new mechanic to keep our junkers on the road. My friend Ed recommended a local (i.e., not chain) garage not far from where we live. The owner of the old garage recommended a different one to Donna. I had my truck serviced at the first place yesterday. After Donna takes her car to get serviced at the other place, we’ll compare notes and pick one.
Our middle-aged daughter narrowly escaped the clutches of work-from-home data-entry job scammers. Donna and I knew from the get-go it was a scam, but it took some convincing to get her to see it. Goes to show it’s not just senior citizens in the scammers’ crosshairs … they target everyone, young and old, and while you mostly hear how important it is for adult children to be vigilant and keep their aging parents out of trouble, sometimes we dotard elders are called upon to do the same for our kids.
I can’t wait until they make me king. First thing I’ll do is go Old Testament on scammers. A few nationally-televised beheadings and they’ll get the message.
It’s the frustration of being powerless to find these scum.
My 90-something dad got taken by hackers who disabled his computer (the vile Windows), called him and then convinced him to give them the username and passwords for the desktop and the laptop. For about $400.
I was horrified and nuked Windows on both his machines in favor of Linux.
Which of course doesn’t help much when you can be fooled through social hacking to give away your password.
I went through SAFE federal credit union and they clawed the money back for him. They had even sent him a ‘possible fraud’ message but he had ignored it.
And blamed me, his tech guy, for being out of town when his PC ‘broke down’. Originally he didn’t even want to report it, at shame from being cheated I’m sure.
I said are you crazy? They stole your money, we need to get it back. Which I did, to no thanks, proud stubborn old man.
Nothing new, hard to drag praise from him at any time. Somebody had to be at blame for any fuckup and it was usually me as oldest son and flunky on account of I was retired and the closest child.
I had to be his nurse, tech guy, food buyer, handyman and chauffeur. But I learned to ignore his blaming, lecturing and fault finding. You can’t please some people.
He’s gone now and my life is totally changed but I miss him. He did love me and was a good man in some important ways.
Despite my lack of choice and decades of filial servitude, and his hard death, it was necessary and structured my life. So I’m still finding my way after almost three years an elderly orphan. Grief recedes but never ends.
Tod recently posted…Cigar Box Music Project Stalls: Router Training Needed