Roscoe's Story

Summer of '66?

Or maybe it was the summer of 1965, I don't remember. But that skinny boy in the picture above was me standing in front of the family house over a half-century ago when I was a Junior or Senior in High School.

My sister has taken upon herself a project of digitizing some old photographs and slides that our parents had collected when they were alive. And she's emailing the image files to me and our remaining siblings. How nice of her! She tells me there are approximately 400 pictures all together.

Earlier this year I “sort of” committed myself to a #SevenTwo photo sharing project. With my January birthday placing me well within the ranks of septuagenarians, I decided to post two photos every every week for the remainder of the year. But that was before the CCP-flu pandemic put the world on lockdown and me under strict self-quarantine. Not being able to leave the house with my camera I quickly ran out of current images to post and that project fell by the wayside.

Maybe with these old pictures my sister is sending I'll be able to do a #ThrowbackThursday for awhile, satisfying one picture to post per week of the #SevenTwoProject. And if I stretch my imagination a bit, maybe I'll be able to scrounge up something else for the other picture. Hmm...

The adventure continues.

---

Published on 25 June 2020, this is my post number 36/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #ThrowbackThursday #SevenTwoProject #photograph

---

by Roscoe

His name is Leo and ...

... he is on the wrong side of the fence. And he knows he is in trouble.

Leo is a young adult male Husky who thinks he is still a puppy. He is a barker (though not as much now as when he was younger), playful and, obviously, a jumper. He's still on his leash, the other end of which is still fastened to something over in my next door neighbor's back yard where he should be. But he's jumped over the fence and is now humbly hunkered down behind my sheds in my back yard and wanting some attention.

Oh Leo, whatever are we going to do with you?

And so the adventure continues.

---

Published on 22 June 2020, this is my post number 35/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #dog

---

by Roscoe

Before the heat chased me inside...

... where the air conditioned air is much more comfortable, I was enjoying a peaceful Saturday mid-morning on the back patio with Kindle, radio and mug of freshly brewed coffee.

It was nice out there, but it's nicer in here now.

I know, I know... it's such a rough life. But somebody has to live it, and it may as well be me. (Heh.)

And so the adventure continues.

---

Published on 20 June 2020, this is my post number 34/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload

---

by Roscoe

If there was ever a time to watch Dr. Who...

...this would be that time. Luckily for me, Pluto TV offers Classic Dr. Who episodes 24/7 and for free.

Several days ago I noted in conversation elsewhere on the Internet that time had been blurring for me lately. You know, days running together, that sort of thing.

This morning, after someone mentioned to me that the weeks seemed to have been going quickly for her, my honest response was:

Yes, they do! The days seem to drag, the weeks go quickly, and the months fade away into a fog of sameness. The passage of time has become quite weird this year.

And all day long I've had the strangest sense of being somewhat out of phase with, well... everything going on around me. Rather disquieting, that.

So it's time to switch on Dr. Who. Maybe things will start to sort out after I spend a little time with the Time Lord.

The adventure continues.

---

Published on 18 June 2020, this is my post number 33/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #time #DoctorWho

---

by Roscoe

Moving through my Monday chores

They say that holding to a regular schedule is important if one wants to have a successful retirement, and if one wants to maintain good mental health during the pandemic lockdown. Fortunately for me, scheduling and prioritizing my chores and activities has been a time management habit of mine for decades.

Mondays now always include at least two particular chores: 1.) doing my laundry, (two loads are moving through the machines now and there will be a third); and 2.) filling my morning and evening pill boxes with the medicines, vitamins, and food supplements I take daily. Pill boxes and bottles pertaining to that 2nd chore are pictured above.

And so it goes.

---

Published on 15 June 2020, this is my post number 32/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #SeniorLiving #timemanagement #chores #blogging

---

by Roscoe

Happy Flag Day, USA

Ours is posted. Is yours?

---

Published on 14 June 2020, this is my post number 31/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #SeniorLiving #FlagDay

---

by Roscoe

For a normal person, this would have been easy.

But for me it was a long, stressful, very major deal. Let me explain.

I bought a new phone recently, a pixel 3, and it arrived yesterday. This isn't the very latest phone in the pixel universe, but I found it available at a good price and it's gotten pretty good reviews. And I've almost always had Android phones. My current primary phone is a Galaxy 10 and this new little pixel phone is intended to serve as my back up. So I hoped all would go well.

Now I've been a computer hobbyist since the 1980s, and a full-time Linux user since the late 1990s, Heck, I've assembled computers from the motherboard on up and had great fun doing that. So being hands-on with technology doesn't bother me. As long as it's computers, and as long as it's Linux.

But I have NEVER been a telephone person. I absolutely HATE having voice conversations over the phone and am quite comfortable turning off the ringer at all times unless the wife is out of the house or I am. Face to face conversations in real life I'm perfectly fine with. And emails or text messages, I'm good that way too. But talking over the phone? If it's not an important business or legal call of some kind, forget about it. Ask anybody, they'll tell you. Roscoe is NOT a telephone person.

Somehow that attitude of mine carries over to the point of making it difficult for me to work with phones. Anyway, somehow I botched things up when I tried to set up this pixel phone and actually had to reach out to the phone company's customer service department for help this morning. Thankfully we were able to text/chat and get everything working okay. Finally. But it took HOURS! Man!

But all systems are working well now. And I'm moving steadily along the pixel learning curve.

And the adventure continues.

---

Published on 12 June 2020, this is my post number 30/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #phones #SeniorLiving

---

by Roscoe

A Surprisingly Pleasant Distraction...

... from the ever depressing #FakeNews of the day being trumpeted across Network and Cable TV and broadcast radio these days is Star Trek: Discovery, which I've recently been semi-binging on CBS AllAccess. Though I'd avoided watching this series in the past due to bad reviews from some quarters, I gave it a shot after seeing someone I respect speak highly of it. And I'm glad I did.

Beginning with Season 1: Episode 1, I've tried to watch one episode per day. With only two Seasons of the show having been made, and no clear idea given as to when the the third Season will begin airing, I want to prolong my enjoyment as long as I can.

And the adventure continues.

---

Published on 09 June 2020, this is my post number 29/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #StarTrek

---

by Roscoe

Where the heck did THIS day come from!?

Saturdays under the current “plandemic” lockdown are supposed to be particularly quiet and calm in the Roscoe-verse. They are days when I don't have to set my alarm. (During her work week I wake first to fix her breakfast and make sure she gets her day started on time.) So Saturdays I can sleep as long as I like.

Waking at my leisure there is usually some kind of live Saturday sporting event on TV in the afternoon now. Thank you NASCAR for coming back to life! And then my Svengoolie in the evening.

As I was fixing this morning's coffee, she came into the kitchen and said,“Honey, I need your help with my phone.” She has an iPhone and I'm exclusively an Android guy. It turned out to be a problem that we needed her Apple I.D and password to remedy, and she had no idea what they are. She had somehow removed her Facebook app and couldn't retrieve it. But I WAS able to logon to her Facebook using my backup Android phone, so I'm letting her use it now. Not wanting to be left in any kind of lurch without a spare, I then ordered myself another phone. Darn, I was NOT planning to spend any money today!

After I'd sorted all that out, I got a text from the neighbor lady next door. She said she needed help and gave me instructions about feeding her cats. WTF?! So I went next door to see what was going on. Before she could unlock the door, a fire truck pulled to the curb and the EMTs rushed up. I stepped back and waited in her yard as the guys got to work.

Turns out she was more than a little drunk. She'd twisted her ankle, sprained it, and had fallen. The guys helped her out to a chair on her front porch, took her vital signs, and tried to figure out what was going on. One of them came to me and asked, “Is she always this argumentative?” I replied that, yes, she pretty much always was. She was insisting that she'd broken her leg, and they were saying that, no, it didn't look like any bones were broken. She demanded to be taken to the hospital, so an ambulance was called and off she went. On her way across the yard she gave me her keys and asked me to take care of her cats.

My wife was napping throughout this drama. When she woke I told her what had happened I said that she'd probably be back home from the hospital after sobering up with her sprained ankle wrapped. Sure enough, later in the afternoon there was a knock at my door. Someone had given her a ride home and was asking for her keys. Sheesh!

That's enough excitement for me. Svengoolie comes on in a few minutes and I plan to enjoy the show in peace and quiet.

The adventure continues.

Published on 06 June 2020, this is my post number 28/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #blogging #phone #drama

---

by Roscoe

A plague remedy?

We all know that Isaac Newton was one of the most brilliant scientists of all time, right? A manuscript of his is now being offered at auction which includes his hand-written notes on cures for the plague then sweeping Europe. As reported at the Muse & Reason blog, Newton's thoughts on a promising cure (?) are pretty awesome:

“The best is a toad suspended by the legs in a chimney for three days, which at last vomited up earth with various insects in it, on to a dish of yellow wax, and shortly after died... Combining powdered toad with the excretions and serum made into lozenges and worn about the affected area, drove away the contagion and drew out the poison.”

I do NOT think I'll be trying the dangling toad remedy myself.

The adventure continues.

Published on 04 June 2020, this is my number 27/100/365 post of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.

#100DaysToOffload #blogging

---

by Roscoe