I continue to play around with my phone and taking pictures.

Dad had a busy day at rehab Sunday. First I showed up with my fruit salad and tea, then my younger half-brother came all the way from New Jersey with his pickles and liverwurst, and then my sister showed up. When it was just me and my brother, I decided it was a good time to suggest that when he went home, we should have an aide come to his place a few times a week, mainly to check in on him. To my surprise, he agreed that would be a good idea but he wasn't sure he'd be going home at all. He said he's planning on living until Jan 1 but not after that. 

For someone who's planning on dying, I'm not sure what the significance would be to hold out until Jan 1. 

He seems to be doing better now with the flu and pneumonia behind him (no phlemy cough today), but mobility-wise, I think he has a way to go. Maybe it's this that has him thinking so darkly. He really does enjoy the fruit salads I've been making him, the tea, the food my brother brought. So I plan to keep that up as one small way to remind him that there are still things in life he can enjoy. I worry about him. 

Now to change the subject: Without getting too personal, how much do you donate throughout the year? What do you feel is a reasonable amount, either in terms of monthly contributions or an annual percentage of your adjusted gross income? I would like to make my contributions more automated and more intentional, and ideally, make a fixed dollar amount each month to different nonprofit groups.

I also make non-tax-deductible political contributions and am mulling over what ratio of charitable to political contributions I should make. I foresee my political contributions ramping up as we approach the mid-term elections and then maybe stopping. These elections, if they go our way, can really make a big difference in curbing Rump's ability to get stuff done.

I live in a state that has a car property tax you pay each year, and it's based on the type of car, I guess, but also specifically, its age. The longer you own a car, the lower the tax gradually becomes. In 2024, the car tax on my little 2013 Honda was down to $204. I just got the bill for this year with my new 2024 Toyota SUV, and I'll be paying $405. Ouch. Call it a new car penalty tax.

Saw Dad in rehab the other day. They had just brought him down to another floor for his first physical therapy session, so I went down to find him. I nearly didn't recognize him because they had given him a shower and completely shaved him. Anyway, his exercises consisted of raising a bar about two feet long up overhead and in front of him and doing a bunch of reps with it, and also walking with his walker and stepping up a single step. It's a start. Mentally, I don't think he's really into it, but I think he finds it easier to just goes along with it when people are encouraging him to do so.

That's one thing I've realized about dad....my own mental outlook/attitude makes a huge difference on HIS mental outlook. He can pick up very quickly if I'm in a less-than-perfect mood myself. A positive, but not fake demeanor and kind words go a long way with him. 

He has really enjoyed the green chai tea I've been bringing him in my thermos. He also enjoyed listening to a new audio book on tape cassete I brought; the first book is about the role of privateers in the Revolutionary War, which he asked for. When I see him tomorrow I think I'll swing by the Chinese place and get him an egg roll, something he always gets when we go. And more chai tea. 

I am thinking ahead to when he is well enough to return home, or the point at which Medicare will no longer cover his stay there. If there's anything glaringly obvious to me, it's that it is not safe for him to continue living alone. The little baby step I would want him to take is to agree to having a home health aide come and check in on him a few days a week. Just a little extra companionship, someone who can maybe help him make lunch and maybe do some very light housekeeping. He will probably resist it as he has in the past, but maybe the scare of this last fall will help him to understand that wearing the emergency necklace around his neck is not enough. 

My challenge is getting my sister on board with this idea. She has now revealed that she is dad's POA since she added POA after her name when she signed the $5K Christmas check she wrote for my father for each of his kids, something he's done for the past 5 years or so. So while she still can't force him to do anything, she now has the ability to write the checks and so on. My sister will likely be reluctant to push anything. Taking care of my father really requires coordination of our efforts, but if your sibling is my sister, it's a whole different story. 

I have to be so careful in the way I phrase things to her becus she is quick to take offense and withdraw if I come on too strong. When I was walking in the parking lot into the rehab facility the other day to see dad, I saw her driving up and I waved. She rolled down the window and said I'm not going in, I'm on crutches, here, take this. And she handed over to me the cassette recorder I had asked her to bring from dad's apartment (adjacent to her home) to give him something to do. As I took it, she said, don't tell dad about the crutches. That's how she is....very secretive and never wanting to share anything about her life or situation. I have no idea why she's on crutches, but a few years ago, she finally submitted to hip replacement surgery after limping around for years. So maybe this is the other hip.

I had a nice chat with my cousin M. Christmas morning. She was stopped at a traffic light a few days prior and a pickup came up behind her and crashed into her, failing to stop. She has an older car with very low mileage that she likes, so she wanted to repair it, but the insurance company said it's too old to repair so you have to agree to total it, and then we'll give you $8,000. Now she's got a rental car for 2 weeks to give her time to find a new vehicle she didn't really want.  Anyway, she gave me a very nice Advent calendar tea sampler set with different herbal teas to enjoy each day.

Christmas for me was a quiet day, really a non-event. I guess I'm getting used to it becus I wasn't too upset. I didn't even bother going out for Chinese or Indian food. I just spent the day reading, listening to music and doing a jigsaw puzzle. Still, I'm glad it's behind me for another year.

We had a good 6 inches, maybe more, of snow overnight. The driveway is shoveled but I didn't get to doing the car and I'm worrying it will all be rock hard if I leave it overnight. A squirrel knocked my bird feeder down, so I threw handfuls of black oil sunflower seed and dried meal worms out on the roof of my family room from my upstairs bathroom window and had fun taking photos with my new iphone. This song sparrow is my favorite.

White-throated sparrow (above).

Cardinal.

Well, the good news is, I didn't lose power in the storm a few days ago. There were 60+ mile-per-hour winds, but it looks like the worst of the storm fell on the central part of the state. I'm on the western side, so we fared a little better.

However, I woke up this morning feeling really cold and i started worrying that something was wrong with the furnace. I have MANY times accidentally turned the furnace switch off at the top of the basement stairs becus I have a small bag hanging above the switch for recycling plastic bags, and if I knock the bag, it doesn't take much to push the switch down (off). I learned that the hard way one year when I had to pay the HVAC guy who responded to my call over a hundred dollars to TURN THE SWITCH ON. Even he felt bad, but he still had to charge me for coming out.

So first thing I did this morning was check the switch, and, yup, that was the problem. It was down to 53 degrees!

In days of yore, I used to try to keep the heat down as low as I could tolerate, and that included turning it down further at night. Now into my second year of full retirement and being home more, I found my sweet spot is a little warmer than when I used to do the No Heat Challenge. (Remember that?) It feels pretty good to have it set at 65 or 66 day AND night. However, when I go out anywhere, I always turn it down to 60 since now I don't even have a cat that might be chilly. That being said, I often notice when it starts getting dark and cooling down outside that I feel the chill in the house. I usually resist the temptation to turn it up a notch and just throw a sweater on instead. 

I had some grocery errands I wanted to run today, including a gym workout and a visit to see dad at his new location, the rehab facility, but I'd forgotten that I ordered heating oil and the window of arrival they gave me was "6 am to 4 pm." I could leave a signed blank check for them to fill out, but I prefer to write it out myself, plus they sometimes try to back up the driveway, even though I always request they don't (narrow, curvy driveway and pavers they will sink) so that could mean hanging out all day. Hmm. This oil fill-up should get me through February or even into March if the weather cooperates and I pile on the sweaters.

I timed my oil purchase to occur during a 3-day warm spell here, but I see prices didn't move as much as I thought they might. I think it's becus of what's happening with Rump's attacks on Venezuelan oil tankers and the massive buildup taking place offshore now. A lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen. I'll be paying $2.85 a gallon, or about $400 to fill up a half-full tank. (Prices are generally lower in early winter than mid- or late-winter.) Last year around this time, it was about .05 more a gallon.

I know a lot of people outside the Northeast use natural gas for heat. A lot of people in my immediate area use wood stoves or wood-burning fireplaces as supplemental heat. The air quality here is so bad I don't even like walking around the neighborhood in winter due to the stink. 

My cousin in PA sent me an early Xmas present, which I received yesterday. A new iPhone 17 Pro Max! This is the 3rd iphone he's gotten for me. I hit a few glitches setting it up; at one point it was asking me for my zip code and it wasn't accepting it until I realized he used HIS zip code and that, in fact, worked. I haven't tried out all the newest features, but I do see the camera on this one is much better, and evidently the battery has a longer life too. It transferred my thousands of photos and all my apps seamlessly to the new phone. The one thing I still need to figure out is how to reconfigure my "Find Me" thingie for the new phone (the thing you keep on your key chain if you can't find your phone). 

I haven't opened the other gift I've received this year and am saving that for December 25. It was given to me by my other cousin when I saw her at Thanksgiving after she told me let's not exchange presents anymore!

I'm not sure what, if anything, I'll be doing for Christmas. Dad will still be at rehab, I'm sure. I can visit him for a bit but am still stymied about what to get him. I bought several packages of low-sugar cookies but am now having second thoughts as he used to be pre-diabetic and they're probably feeding him crap at these facilities. Like the orange juice they gave him at the hospital while testing his blood sugar throughout the day.

I did order more books on tape for him and will swing by his place to pick up the cassette recorder he needs to listen to the tapes but am waiting for my sister to tell me whether or not dad has a private room at rehab; if he has a roommate, i won't bring the recorder. 

Just sitting here pondering life during the middle of a growing windstorm. Hoping I don't lose power but it doesn't take much here to do that; trees and power lines don't mix. Gusts of 55 to 60.

Hey, does anyone want to make an easy $100? If you apply for a Discover card using the link I send you and you make a purchase in the 1st 3 months after receiving the card, we both get $100! Here are the details:
https://card.discover.com/web/cardacq/referral/?page=referfriend&trafficCode=75

Dad is doing a bit better though still in the hospital. Better in the sense that he is more talkative and alert than he was a few days ago. He enjoyed the green chai tea I brought him. I want to make a lentil soup and bring some of that but I seem to be missing the dried lentils and this storm is getting worse. I sure wouldn't want to lose power in the middle of cooking; if it's not too late, I'll run out tonight after the storm eases to get those lentils.

Did anyone catch the Saturday Night Live special last night? It had all the classic holiday skits from years ago. I still get a laugh out of them. I guess there's another SNL special tomorrow night.

All of the loans I reviewed this week for Kiva were from borrowers in the Phillippines. I was notified of one small default (less than $2) which I consider as part of how the Kiva system works. Defaults are very uncommon and of inconsequential amounts.

I took a quick look at my stats since we are wrapping up 2025. Since joining Kiva as a volunteer in 2019, I see this statement: "You've reviewed 3,911 loans enabling $2,108,535 in lending activity."

I was pondering an interesting post here by Tabs, who wondered why some people savers, and others spendthrifts.

I was thinking more about the abrupt transition from "lifelong working gal with a career" to "retiree with hobbies." It can be a little rough to consider what all those years of hard work meant. I mean, I'm left with a a file cabinet full of writing samples from every job I ever had. I did a lot of work I was extremely proud of, and even got a few awards, but in the end, it just went to help this company or that market the product they were selling, and I daresay all that hard work has already been forgotten by the few who may have appreciated what went into creating it. So to add to my answer to Tabs, my self-worth was internally driven, and that's what remains today. I thought I was working to earn praise (and maybe a higher bonus) from my manager, or my manager's manager, but really, I am self-motivated, and do the hard work to please myself.

What kind of delights me is discovering that I am still using my decades of work experience and skillsets as a writer/journalist/researcher in my volunteer work, and that it is appreciated by others I work with. It's nice to work those muscles even if I'm not earning money for it. 

This winter could be very quiet though, since my 2 main volunteer activities naturally become a little less active due to the nature of our work. I am still on the lookout to take something new on; I've found that I like working with very small organizations because they will more likely offer more interesting volunteer opportunities to someone like me and will also appreciate what I can do more as well.  

The wind is really picking up and the rain is coming down in sheets. So far, I still have power.

Got together with one of the groups I volunteer with for a Christmas lunch at one of my favorite places in town. All I had was the tomato basil soup with the jumbo garlic bread croutons, and that was plenty filling, so I'm glad I didn't get the salad, too. . And the price was right: $8.95.

I haven't used my weighted belt on the treadmill since Tabs made his suggestions, and I've been able to increase my speed from 3.3/3.4 (with the belt) to 3.6 without it, and a heart rate high of 111, which is still probably not my optimal peak heart rate as far as cardio benefit goes. I have to say I enjoy the workout a lot more without the belt and I "feel" stronger because I'm walking faster. I usually shoot for 30 minutes. 

Today's a warmish day. I Would love to wash the salt off my car, but ehhh...maybe tomorrow. It's already 3 and the water will likely freeze on the driveway. Guess I'm too frugal for a car wash.

Dad's still in the hospital. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best place for him right now.

Unfortunately, he tested positive for the flu and he has a UTI. He has such limited exposure to people I'm really surprised, unless he immediately picked it up as soon as he entered the hospital. So many people coming and going to do this or do that, plus he was already moved once from an ER bed to a regular bed in a different "tower," so there was a whole new set of care providers tending to him.

He did get a flu vaccine in November, so hopefully that will blunt the worst of his symptoms, but he was noticeably tireder today and a little ill-humored due to not feeling well. Plus the gash above his eye that he received when he fell kept bleeding, so much so that they had to change the sheets 3 times, but once the blood thinner med he was on was stopped and out of his system, the gash seems to have stabilized. So perhaps not surprising he is a little anemic, so now they're giving him an iron pill. ....They seem like they're doing a good job, although he is pre-diabetic and what do I see he was given at breakfast? Orange juice. Maybe not the best choice.

We have overnight snow that ended around noon today, just about 3 inches, which was enough that I needed to shovel the driveway. Temps will warm considerably in the second half of this week so I am hoping to get some winter yard work chores done during that time (pruning this and that), and I also plan to order some heating oil if oil prices fall due to the rise in temps (which I find they often do, though there are also other factors in play). But between now and then, i.e., tonight, temps are going to drop to a littld below zero.

So this January it will be exactly 1 year since I purchased my SUV.  It feels like it's taking forever to pay the thing off, so much so that I wondered, momentarily, if Toyota Financial had calculated everything correctly. But on the face of it, I think they have.  I financed a little over $20,000 and have been throwing prepayments at it each month, having started out with an extra $200 each month but lately it's been an extra $250.

I guess it's about right since I see my balance on it is $9900, so I think I'm still on track to pay it off in less than 2 years (my plan all along). I'll be throwing $5k at it in early January to accelerate that process and then I'll be on the home stretch. That's $700 a month I'd rather keep in my pocket than pay in principal and interest.

My father had a fall a few days ago and is now in the hospital. I was shocked when I saw him yesterday because he looked like a boxer who got the short end of the stick in a bout. He had a golfball-sized swelling under his right eye and a cut above the eye with lots of discoloration. Luckily, he didn't break anything (a miracle) and the swelling has gone done quite a bit today. They're starting physical therapy with him today as well as occupational therapy, and it sounds like he may be transfered to a rehab facility to continue with that, which I am very much for. Typical dad, he says it dosen't hurt.

My father, who is in his 9th decade, does not move around much and no matter how much I try to encourage him to just move more, whatever he can, "use it or lose it," etc., etc., he has no interest. He humors me by listening, but that's it. I understand that. But he will do certain movements and exercises it if someone is there guiding him through it all. That's why I'm still taking him to physical therapy every week, and we've been doing this for over a year now. But it's not enough. He has major sarcopenia, and I'm pretty sure this is why he fell. He lays in bed all day and watches the news. He still lives alone, adjacent to my sister's house. She brings him dinner daily.  It's not enough. But these are dad's wishes. He doesn't want to be institutionalized, and I understand that, too. So we fumble on. I would love to have a home health aide come in a few days a week, but I already know he will tell me no.  He can afford it but doesn't like to spend money. When he gets home, I'm going to bring it up anyway. Maybe with this last fall he might see the wisdom of doing this.

My BJs membership was up for renewal in early January; each year they increase the membership fee and it's currently $60, which is a fee I don't like paying since buying for one makes it debatable whether or not paying that fee is worth it. However, my grocery price comparisons tell me that many BJs foods are priced at a level comparable to Aldi's, and certainly cheaper than big supermarkets like Stop & Shop or Big Y.

So I wrote to BJs customer service yesterday and explained that I found it hard paying that membership fee as a solo person, and could they offer me any discount. I got an email from the national customer service saying please call us, which I did this morning. At first she offered me a $5 discount, which was disappointing, but I thanked her and then declined. Then she said, hold on, let me check again, and this time she offered me a $10 discount. Again I declined as my backup plan was to stock up on a few favorite BJs foods before my membership expired, just go without BJs for a few months and then renew if I still want to. Again she said let me check again, and this time offered me what I'd been hoping for, a $25 membership that I happily accepted. I mean, their pricing negotiations are on a par with some Internet and phone service providers I've dealt with! The moral of the story is, 1) it never hurts to ask and 2) always remain polite and appreciative.

Netflix is my chief TV provider but often I find myself losing interest in many movies they offer about halfway through the movie, if not sooner. The acting is often lacking, IMO. But sometimes there's a movie name I recognize that I somehow never saw, even while being widely touted as an "important" film of its era. That was the case with Taxi Driver, a 1970s-era Scorsese film I watched last night, and I must say it was a great movie. It depicted a gritty, seamy side of New York that I was familiar with growing up during that period when prostitution and crime were perhaps more entrenched than they are now, or at least, less hidden from view if you were walking around Times Square.  

I knew the movie had to be good with its 4 key actors being Robert DeNiro, Cybil Shepherd, Jodie Foster and Harvey Keitel. It was one of those movies where you're not really sure you grasped all its meaning, so I often will go online afterwards and read movie critic reviews just to understand it better. Especially the ending, in this particular case. I must say, Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel were SO young in this film (and the others, too, of course).

In the past, I never really went out of my way to watch Martin Scorcese films due to their violence, but I must say now I am a little curious to possibly watch some of his other films if they are on Netflix.

One of my volunteer groups is planning a little holiday luncheon next week at one of my favorite local eateries. Just 5 of us. 

I've become inspired to try to make some tree ornaments made out of pinecones, cinammon sticks, berries and ribbons. I just need to get the cinammon sticks. I also have some small white birch logs sitting in the driveway since summer and I want to cut a few slices of them up to serve as a small base for a pinecone "tree."

I stopped at Tractor Supply for a 10-pack of suet and then went to the gym, where I increased my walking speed on the treadmill to 3.5 mph. I could never muster up enthusiasm for going any faster than 3.4 becus I always walk with a 10.5 lb weighted belt around my waist and it is darn heavy. The only reason I didn't have the belt today is becus one of the guys at the gym told me the painters would be moving into the women's locker room today (they didn't) so I wouldn't have access to all the stuff like the belt I just leave there. I had it in my car but don't like shlepping it back and forth thru the parking lot. So that's why I was so speedy today.

I started feeding the birds a week or so ago and today my one little feeder was especially mobbed, becus it's really gotten cold. I'd love to hang a 2nd one to relieve the crowding, but honestly the only spot that is mostly squirrel-proof is one large mulberry tree just outside my office window, which is a great viewing spot. But the tree branch is very high, too high, in fact, even with a step ladder. In the past I got the fishing line I use to hang it (too thin for a squirrel to climb onto) by climbing to the very top of the ladder and then throwing the roll of fishing line up and hopefully over the tree branch. I don't have anyone here to help me, so it takes a while becus my aim is not good so each time it falls to the ground, I have to descend the ladder and grab it to try again. 

Anyway, the feeder I have holds just a day's worth of black oil sunflower seed mixed with freeze-dried meal worms (crunchy yummy) and 2 suet cakes.

Red-bellied woodpecker, above and below

From left, tufted titmouse, female cardinal and 2 female house finches. Also a male house finch behind the titmouse.

I mailed my 2nd half of property taxes today. That's always a big ouch at $3,884 each payment.