Gains and Losses

It's been quite the week, as you'll read below.  Finally, I can write our update.

We are still digging out from under boxes of "stuff" daily that we thought we could not live without.  Frankly, we could have managed with a third of what we brought from Washington to Florida.  Goodwill here is benefiting greatly as we sort through our stash.  But we are making progress, as one area of the condo after another reveals itself.  The kitchen and dining room floors are now visible.  Hurray!

On  Tuesday, we replaced our air conditioning system.  Both the air handler (26 years old) and the condenser (29 years old) met their demise.  While they still worked mostly, there were "noises" coming from both of them that did not bode well.  We decided that now, before a 10% increase in price due to increased Florida standards for the gases used in the system occurred, was the better part of prudence.  Mechanical issues also were looming.  The new system took only a day to install, and it is working well after a few tweaks of adjusting the vents, and the smart thermostat.  Everything is computerized these days, and the new thermostat is wifi smart and "talks" to our cell phones and Alexa, so it is a breeze to operate anytime, and anywhere.

Wednesday, Jim had his routine eye injection.  The doctor that first started management of his macular degeneration has an office in Port Charlotte where we physically live (despite the zip code of Punta Gorda in our mailing address), so it is an easy drive for Jim's treatments.  

Thursday, we visited J.C. Penneys, where another optometrist will care for Jim's glaucoma.  While Jim saw her, I got my hair cut across the aisle at the J.C. Penneys hair salon.  Perhaps a bit shorter than I'd like, but it takes time to find a hairdresser who "gets it right" immediately.  The Port Charlotte Mall is like most older malls these days.  Nice anchor stores, like Dillards and J.C. Penneys, but vacant spaces periodically where smaller vendors have left.  There was a lovely fountain to enjoy along the corridor.

With a glasses prescription in hand, we then went to Costco to order Jim's new sunglasses and computer glasses.  A trip to Costco here requires a mandatory hotdog and soda, so we had a $3 lunch.  Last, but not least, we had to replace my printer.  The old one was on a Hewlett Packard "instant ink" program.  For about $10 a month, the old printer got 100 printed sheets per month.  Hewlett Packard would also send ink whenever it sensed the printer's ink supply was getting low.  I decided that I wanted to get out of the "instant ink" program.  The downside was that on the day the ink subscription ran out, my printer stopped working.  Using wifi, HP can actually shut down your printer until you replace their program's ink cartridges.  The price of ink cartridges was more than buying a new printer, so while we were at Costco, we bought an Epson EcoTank printer that comes with full bottles of ink, enough to print 8,500 pages!  That may be more than I'll use in my remaining life time!  I'll never use Hewlett Packard again after experiencing their "instant ink" program.

Friday we had the scare of Snoopy's recent lifetime.  He awoke with a limp, sort of dragging a hind leg.  We panicked thinking he'd had a stroke or blood clot occur.  Rushing to a vet recommended by our air conditioning technician, we were relieved to learn he was suffering from arthritis in his hind legs, and not a fatal side effect of his heart murmur.  The vet sent us home with an anti-inflammatory medication.  A day later and Snoopy is eating this morning, and then enjoyed "coffee time" with us on the couch thereafter.  He's still spending a great deal of time in a spot in Jim's closet where he hides out to sleep.  What a relief though that our boy is almost back to being himself.  I have almost recovered from the emotional roller coaster yesterday provided, thinking that something terrible had happened to one of my boys.

Life is precious.  Every moment we have together is a gift.  Hold the ones you love.