Retirement Rolling Along

 It is hard to believe that my husband retired 14 years ago today, and we moved to Indiana from Texas just a few days later. It doesn't seem that long ago, yet at the same time it does seem like our life in Texas was pretty far back. 

Yesterday while I had a therapy session in Fort Wayne, my husband did some shopping. At Northcrest mall he browsed Kohl's; then deciding he didn't have enough time to look in other stores, he went to AAA also in Northcrest and visited with the travel agent we used  to book our Panama cruise. She advised him that if he wanted to cruise in winter 2022 he should book soon as the ships are filling up fast. I am not yet comfortable with the idea of cruising. Not so much because of fear of getting sick, but because of the risk of cancellation. The bugs in this new way of doing things on board also need to be worked out. 

When he rejoined me, we went to Asakusa for lunch. We have not had much experience with Japanese restaurants. This was a new restaurant for us. We ordered the (Bento) box lunch. For my 2 entrees I selected shrimp and vegetable tempura and teriyaki steak. My husband picked chicken katsu (a sort of breaded and fried chicken tenders) and the Texas roll (sushi). Besides a mound of rice, sauteed mushrooms, and a few carrots and pieces of broccoli, this meal came with soup and salad. The few times I have eaten Japanese soup (miso), I have not been impressed. This soup was not miso. It had mushrooms, green onions, and tempura crumbs. It was delicious. The salad had a ginger dressing. We will have to go back sometime, but in the same strip mall there is in an adjoining building another Japanese restaurant which we will probably try before returning to Asakusa.

I chose this restaurant because it is close to Costco where we needed to stop to buy some hearing aid batteries. It was so hot (upper 80s) and humid, it was wearying just to go from the car to the entrance. We are in a stretch of rainy days. Last Friday we participated in our condo community's garage sale. It rained almost all day and sometimes had downpours. It just started raining now as I am typing this. 

Before heading home, we stopped at Ollie's because of the Customer Appreciation week. The extra 15% off wasn't much of a discount, but I bought two books for $7.25. 

As long as my eyes work, I will be a reader. That is just a normal part of my retirement life carried over from pre-retirement.

Scammed

 Last week I became victim of an internet scam. It is the only time that I know of and it had minor consequences.

 I had installed my new Canon printer, but when I printed/copied the pages the colors were faded and somewhat grayed. I tried cleaning the print head and doing a nozzle check. The nozzle check printed all of the colors, but they were washed out. I saw searching the internet that I could choose manual settings for color rather than automatic, but the pattern check that was spoken of didn't appear anywhere. I felt like I needed some guidance.

I searched for Canon help. I clicked on the first site listed that had Canon in bold print. The site that came up had the Canon logo and color scheme. I chose to "chat". I was told I could have a one week trial of help for $1 but after that week I would be charged something like $46 a month for membership. I had no intention of staying with a membership with that monthly fee. I just needed one day of help and then I would cancel.

The "trial" could be paid for with a credit card or Paypal. I chose Paypal. I described my problem to an "assistant" who then told me she would refer it to a technician. As soon as the chat with the "expert" started I knew I had been had. He wanted me to change the paper setting to "rough paper" as the paper quality might be affecting how the ink was absorbed. Of course there is no such choice. I told him that and started looking for the cancel option. I also looked at the URL and realized that I was on a site called JustAnwer.com not Canon. 

Before I could cancel, he replied that he could for an extra fee remotely look for the necessary setting on my computer and help me. Yikes! I knew better than to allow anyone unknown to me to access my computer. 

I did find the cancel button. I was relieved to get a message from Paypal that the automatic monthly charging of my account had been canceled. At least that part of the "story" seemed to be true. With the cancellation, I no longer was chatting.

But he wasn't ready to give up. I don't remember giving this site my email address, but it would be associated with my Paypal account. I received an email telling me that I hadn't clicked on the link he provided with answers. I deleted it, but a few minutes later came a second such email. I didn't even open the emails. I blocked the sender. Later I checked my spam box and saw another two attempts.

So I am out one dollar, but it could have been much worse. If I had used a credit card, there could be all sorts of charges put on it. I could have had my computer taken over. Who knows what the emailed link would have done. 

I did find the legitimate Canon help site. My printer had not been on display at Best Buy but sitting in the stockroom somewhere. The ink cartridges that came with it were not in a box, but in the plastic cups with the sealed plastic across the top. I have no way of knowing how old they are.

 This real Canon site had a big banner warning customers of scam sites that looked like the legitimate site. No kidding. I knew what the Canon site looked like because I had checked the specs of their printers before deciding what to buy.

 To get help through the internet or by telephone I needed to register my printer which I did. I thought I might call and see with the serial number if they could see how old this printer really was. When was it manufactured? I suspect it has been sitting in the stockroom at Best Buy over a year all during the pandemic. Instead I ordered two ink cartridges (black and color) via Walmart. They should arrive Tuesday. If replacing the cartridges doesn't solve the color quality problem, I will call someone at Canon. The printer is under warranty. 

So I am out $1, but it could have been much worse. A rather cheap reminder to always look at the URL that shows up before interacting.

Pot in my pot?

 I am quite naive about street and recreational drugs. I have seen photos in news stories of canisters of marijuana buds, little green clumps, however. 

Last night I took a look at the pottery jug I bought in Illinois. I turned it upside down wanting to see if there were any manufacturing marks. There were not, but some crumbly dark stuff fell out almost like dried dirt. 

This morning I shook out what was inside. It appeared to be some kind of dried plant material. But the weird thing was that there were sheets of paper almost like waxed paper which lodged against the small aperture. I pulled them loose and out with some difficulty.

The dried material had some little specks of green that reminded me of the cannabis buds. 

The suspicion arose in my mind that this might have been somebody's stash. If so, the materials were well concealed but terribly difficult to retrieve. 

I googled for images of dried marijuana and saw that you can roll the stuff to make joints to smoke. Hmmm. Now I probably will be getting feeds on Facebook and news sites of marijuana, but I didn't know anybody to ask for corroboration. Maybe some of you savvy people can tell me if my suspicion was well-founded. There was no odor I could detect.

Anyway, it has been disposed of in the trash. Not the kind of "souvenir" I thought I was buying. I now have an empty clean pottery jug. 

Free!

 I received permission to stop wearing my neck brace. I'm free! I also asked about the TED (compression) hose that the hospital discharge instructions said to wear for 4 weeks. They were feeling hot now that the weather has heated up. The doctor said as long as I was walking around, I didn't need to continue with them.  

I have some pain and stiffness around my shoulder blades and my trapezius muscles, but I start physical therapy tomorrow and hope those will soon be better. I had a good night of sleep last night. So nice not to have plastic poking into my chest, back, and face.

It was a different medical visit. The information board said that my doctor was running about 15 minutes behind. About 5 minutes before my 11 a.m. appointment time all but emergency lights went out in the building. By the time I saw Dr. Smith it was 12 noon. Of course all of the computers went down. The staff were accessing chart information via their cell phones. The examination room where I was eventually escorted had a big window which helped with seeing the sutures that needed to be removed. They took a couple of X-rays when I first arrived around 10:45. I don't know that they were able to access those digitally. Several people in the waiting lobby were told that no X-rays could be taken and rescheduled. I was called later in the afternoon to schedule my next appointment which is July 27th in Warsaw. 

When we left the Lutheran campus, we planned to head to Jefferson Point to Biaggi's restaurant. It took us about twice the usual time to get there because of all the traffic signals out along Jefferson Boulevard. We could see most of the businesses had no lights on so we knew the outage was widespread. Fortunately, a mile or so before our destination, we had working traffic signals and were glad to eat a late lunch at 1 p.m. 

WANE news station had a story about the 5,000 plus power customers who had no electricity because of a substation incident. They said the power resumed about 2 p.m. 

I stopped at Trader Joe's about a block from the restaurant. I bought some beef lunchmeat, white cheddar cheese, and a few bunches of flowers to throw together in a vase.

My husband visited a hobby store in a strip mall across from Jefferson Point. He found what he needed. We got home after 3 p.m. It was a long day since we left at 9:50 a.m. 

Perk-Me-Ups

 I have been feeling a bit down the last few days so today I decided to focus on things that cheer me up.

My rose bush is not the type to produce many single-stemmed blooms, but I found one yesterday. The plant does have clumps of roses now. My Asiatic lilies in my backyard patio are starting to flower. 

Yesterday my sister-in-law brought me a little pot of gerbera daisies.

Blooming plants give me joy.

I am getting quite a collection of get-well cards.

Knowing that people care about me and how I am doing also gives me joy. 

As I write this, I am viewing the lengthening shadows of pre-twilight (my favorite time of day). We have had pretty days though heat and humidity are building for next week. My husband went to the Village of Winona Art Fair this morning. He had a good chat with several woodworkers who were selling items. I am happy he could get out and enjoy himself after working so hard managing our home the past 11 days. He has definitely been out of his comfort zone. I am blessed to have him. 

I feel better already. Pivoting focus is good for the soul.

 I downloaded a free book from Wall Street Journal this morning. I will try to read it on my Samsung tablet which isn't too heavy to prop up fairly high so I don't have to keep my neck bent down. I started an audio book (biographical) by Madeline Albright but haven't really been drawn in. 

Counting down the days until I see Dr. Smith (June 9th) and hopefully get my neck brace off. 

More Blooms In the 'Hood on Phone

 I am doing quite well today. I went for a walk and took pix on my cell phone. Last night I slept in my bed instead of the recliner. It is a bit awkward because I have to prop my head up some with a small pillow. I am taking Tylenol in the daytime with percocet before bedtime and once through the night (alarm set on my phone). I use my new phone to "summon" my husband when I need help. The neck brace is hot to wear now that the weather is heating up. Hopefully it will come off for good on June 9th.

For blog purposes, taking photos on my cell phone is kind of clumsy. I have to send them from the phone to my computer or cloud storage to include them in the blog post. 

Not many people sitting on their porches; quite a few doors have the screens open to fresh air. 

I haven't killed my porch plants yet.

A pop-up card from loved ones. I have received several cards and phone calls wishing me well.

I find walking eases pain; sitting for very long increases pain. Probably going to rain tomorrow. I will have to make sure I get out of my chair and move around in the house. I am taking an afternoon nap most days though I found walking around the block not too tiring today. I do need to work on eating more fiber. That's my progress report such as it is.