2010 New Years

Last night we celebrated New years Eve with neighbor friends and our daughter, son-in-law and grandson. Of course one of the conditions of senior-hood is we didn't feel compelled to stay up to midnight although by the time we'd gotten to bed we were treated to neighborhood fire crackers at midnight so we heard the new year arrive, even though we didn't feel the need to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Down here in NC we have an acorn that drops in some local town, a kind of minature version of the Times Square thing and one that people seem nuts about (pun intended).

I recall when we wouldn't be caught dead spending New Years Eve at home. There was always a party somewhere, and it was always a night for merry making. But somehow the changing of years isn't such a big deal anymore. We did manage to create our own excitement though by getting into a spirited argument with our neighbor friends after dinner about the security on airlines because of the recent bomber that was captured on the flight in to Detroit.

Our neighbor reasoned that was more evidence that our government is incompetent and he is justified in calling President Obama "sophomoric". That didn't sit well with most of us so we went at it briefly which then led to discussions about the declining competency of the health care system. It follows doesn't it? I mean an incompetent government also causes a broken health care system. We finally resolved it all by concluding it was all about money and them that has it, in place to get more.

Naturally (I say naturally because it seemed to make sense at that moment though I can't somehow make the connection now) that whole conversation led to my telling a story about visiting NC when I was 16 to gather a truck load of holly with berries to take back to PA to make wreathes for Christmas. It was a hair-brained scheme to make money that ended up costing more than we made from the wreaths. But you know how at 16 everything is an adventure. So it wasn't really about making money after all.

Today was New Years Day and Anne and I volunteered ourselves to start taking down the neighborhood Christmas decorations in our development. Today it reached almost 50 so although on the cool side, it was acceptable working weather. The real work is scheduled for tomorrow when a hand full of neighbors are gathering with us to do the job. It seems God decided to torture us by bringing our coldest weather of this winter into town tonight so when we meet at 10 A.M. to begin the work, the temperature will be around 20 degrees.

We do our own community decorating you know. It's mostly the retired folks or seniors that take care of it, as we do of so much of the neighborhood work. You see, we're one of those self administered developments, with our own homeowners association that handles all the common area maintenance, like the mowing, and the pool, etc.

You know how they say when you reach senior-hood, you can't take the cold weather? Well it's true. Ok, so it's not actually "the truth". But there are lots of us seniors who agree it's so. So, at least to us, it seems true. So Anne and I put in a couple hours today. That way if a half dozen people show up tomorrow, we'll be able to get the remaining decorations down and stored within about an hour to an hour and a half - just enough time to freeze!

I've been reading the latest issue of Popular Science about all the new technology that's coming - something all seniors do, you know. They're predicting that bio-mechanical devices will have people living to perhaps ages like 150, maybe as soon as 2050. Wow! Hard to imagine! Not sure I want to be around that long.

Of course if it meant that we had the energy, strength, and brain functions at 100 that we now have at say, 45 - 50, maybe it would be a different thing. But imagine what that will mean to the planet - I mean if everyone started to live to 150. And combine that with rising oceans and less land mass due to global warming ... whew! Sometimes I think I'll be checking out at just the right time. For sure people are going to need to learn how to live with each other in ways they haven't yet.

Well the fish on my salt water tans want me to leave and turn off the lights so they can go to sleep. And the crabs want the same thing so they can come out and scavenge - they eat at night you know. Toodaloo.