In the way of an apology... After being away, coming back is a bit difficult. Diving in to threads that have dozens of posts means a lot of catching up... and some embarrassment when it's like... "Oh!, we already discussed that."

So... just a little bit of catch up on where this ancient soul has been.

My dear wife jeanie and I are now age 83, and living in in our CCRC... "Liberty Village of Peru, IL". Absolutely happy reasonably healthy, and busy with life. If you look at our home, you'll see the full service retirement campus. We live in one of the Villa's, which we own... and will be able, as needed to move into the Apartments, Assisted Living, Nursing Home or Alzheimer Unit. (The picture on the website of a Villa with roses out front, is our home). Go to the "services" link.

Our CCRC

Currently I am in Stage 4 of Alzheimer's, which is not as bad as it sounds. Strange thing... while quickly forgetting recent and some earlier events in our life, the deeper intellect and curiosity, is still in fairly good shape.

Spend more time than necessary watching TV news, (both sides of the fence) but we're able to spend some exercise time at AJ's fitness Center, to stay in physical shape.

I have been posting on various websites, but without politics... I miss that.

Current interests:
AI
Meatless (not vegetarian)
20 year forward look @ our country
Financial security
International news

No longer:
-Go to our Woodhaven Lakes Camp regularly
-Go to Florida (sold our home in Lake Griffin Harbor)
-Ride my bike 15 to 25 miles/day
-Do as much socially as we used to (more content to stay home).
... and get this! WORRY
Looking forward to getting back in the fray.

Life is Good!

Welcome back Cousin It.

Hi itstarted,

Welcome back. You certainly seem in good shape mentally for Stage 4. I have MS so I have a few scars in my brain, too. I went blind in a quarter of my visual field for a couple of weeks, but my brain rewired. My only lasting defects seems to be the correct vowels to use in ambiguous words, and a pretty complete inability to recall Natalie Portman's name! Funny the things you lose. Almost entertaining.

Along the lines of your "meatless" interest, I just saw that my local supermarket has Beyond Meat patties for making burgers. Only problem is they cost $14 per pound! They come in two patty packages so you can try them for just $7 to see if they are any good. But for less than $14 per pound I can get grass-fed beef, Angus, or Bison.

Hello, it started. I know what you mean about catching up - may only be here long enough to say hi, myself.

But thank you - you give me hope. Someone dear to me also has Alzheimer's, and I hope she'll do as well as you have.. It's a pleasure to see you again.

Cousin It, I tried the Serial 7's test for the first time about five years ago and scared the crap out of myself, until I remembered that I always stunk at math.

But it was very difficult! I wonder if even a person with better than average math skills might balk at it.

Yesterday I spent the better part of two hours struggling to remember the word "hagiography". You see, I've been struggling over the innumerable hagiographies being penned about a certain elected official with better than average wealth and better than average reality TV accomplishments. Someone convinced him that
the movie "Being There" was a direct route to world conquest, and then someone convinced a few million Americans that Chance the Gardener would be the one to lead our country.
And Chance had dyed his hair a very ugly color!

Then I woke up, and I realized it wasn't a dream.
Maybe the entire country has Stage Four and they don't know it!

Jeffrey - thanks for your mention of serial 7s - can't do it at all, and thought I was the only one.

OMG this is like Christmas in August!!!
Welcome back Julia!!

Just following It's example. I might not be around a lot - busy practicing my 7s - but I'll stick my head in from time to time. Thanks for the welcome.

I can still do 5 star sudokus, even with some holes in my brain. I just can't spell sudoku right without looking it up! Thank God for Google.

Can't help myself... Old friend Donal liked to say, "Avoidance is the next best thing to not being there."

OMG I used to win spelling bees and now I'm running to "The Goo Goo" 3 or 4 X a day!

It is so good to see so many old friends again. I've been neglecting RR for a bit, but I'm jazzed now. I am also in catch up mode - whoda thunk? But I'll be playing catch soon.

This might be a high jacking of It's thread, but - I'm not sure I'm going to stick around very long. I've seen linked stuff today that made me wash my hands and clear my history. I'm not sure my brain wants exposure to such dreck.

Still thinking but, really, neoNazis? I expected change when I wandered back in, and I'm aware that My choices are tolerate or leave again. I'm thinking.

Julia, the marketplace of ideas is large and sometimes host to overweening expressions of ideas which many find unpleasant.
But as someone near and dear once said:
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

Without you, we lose yet one more branch that bends toward justice.
You ARE the change, you ARE the hope.
I truly do hope that you will reconsider, stay and help us rebuild the Rant. I am still actively recruiting and I hope to also bring in new and fresh Ranters who fill out the empty places and invigorate our home.

Please consider sticking around.

Jeffery, the marketplace of ideas may be large but some of its offerings are abhorrent. Whether or not I want them as part of my life is a judgment call on my part. I'm not suggesting the Rant should change; I'm suggesting I don't really want those materials, in my life. Now that I know they are a (pseudo)legitimate part of the rant, I can choose whether to read it or avoid it. This one caught me by surprise.

I'm still thinking, as I said.

Oh, please, please stay, mellow.

I joined the retiree community five years ago, waaay too early for my age. My honey, however, is disabled and (slightly) older than me, and I truly wanted to get as much out of our life as we could while we could. We bought a small RV which we have used to travel over 62,000 miles over the last 4 1/2 years (it's been fantastic!). It has, however, taken awhile for me to get my orientation in the new lifestyle without the constant demands and imposed order of the working life.

Now that I have, however, my honey wants to change it up and move into a retirement community. She wants to "downsize"! I feel like we finally have room to move around within our own home! I barely qualify for "over 55" communities, and I am nowhere near ready to jump into a CCRC. Soooo...

Instead of the expense of a CCRC (at least for now), I have convinced her to spend money on fixing up the house we're in (new roof, new fence, landscaping) so we can enjoy it, and get outside help and resources in the community. She finally (after 5 years of nagging) acceded to hiring a housekeeper! We joined our city's "Senior Activity Center" (the average age is easily 15 years older than us), but there are activities and classes and groups we can participate in (although I have yet to find a motorcycle riding partner... durn). I have signed up to be a volunteer, although I warned them I may become unavailable for stretches of time (especially as the election gets closer).

For years now my primary source for political discussion has been the Rant. Neither my son nor my wife puts up with it much, and I have to turn off the news whenever they enter the room (seriously, they insist!). You, my friends, are my lifeline and my sanity, even if some of you are off your rockers!

I agree wholheartedly. The world is much better with Mellowicious in it.

Had to look up serial 7s after it occurred to me it was here that I first heard of that challenge. I don’t recall the gentleman who mentioned it to me - Spence? From the Seattle area?

Anyway, it’s the sort of thing I do in the middle of the night if I can’t sleep...all sorts of math exercises. Wifey thinks I’m crazy.

As I told Spence(?) at the time, be careful because counting back by 7s leads to all sorts of negativity if you don’t know when to stop...

I realized only after I started looking that this thread started three years ago. Life has changed a bit since then. Thought I might bring it back to life and see who is still out there!

Still here, still missing Mellowicious, Itstarted, BC and I hope we see more of Logtroll.
The challenge of returning to normal is indeed a bit daunting.