Thursday, January 20
Jan. 21st, 2022 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Very mild for January today. Just a little above freezing. These temperature swings are nuts!
A short phone call with my Mom. There isn't much to say, but she seems content. She seems to enjoy the fact that there are other people around all the time. She mentioned that she is watching birds that come to a feeder that my niece put up near a window, maybe the one in her room?
It isn't easy to reach her. It seems like she is always getting ready for a meal, or eating a meal, or in the bathroom. She also doesn't answer the phone in her room, so I end up calling the care home staff phone and asking them to take the cordless to her. I know it's a bother, so I don't call a lot.
I took some blankets off the horses (since it was -20C yesterday), but left light ones on because it might rain again. Rain at these temperatures is worse than -20C and dry.
It's days like these that I really appreciate R at the barn. She WILL change blankets if it gets warmer or colder or if the blanket is soaked. At the other barn, I would have had to do it myself, and in times when we had these wild fluctuations I would have to be there almost every day to change them. If I couldn't come, then it likely wouldn't get changed.
I tried to go for a walk at a park nearby, but there is apparently no trail grooming done there any more, and after our recent snow, no path left. Pretty tough to break trail in snow up to your knees.
I decided to just walk around in town, the tiny village close to us. That worked out okay.
Then I came home, had a nice bath and a nap.
Then I ripped off my leg pelts and painted my toe nails.
I did some cleaning. I have to keep scrubbing the absolute hell out of the toilet bowl or it builds up iron stains. A load of laundry. Dishes.
What I learned today: That things are getting pretty intense with Russia right now, threatening to take over the Ukraine.
A question for you: What skills do you think a person should know in life these days? What skill do you wish you had?
I'm going to say typing skills. I had a class in high school, on an actual electric typewriter, but then didn't need to type for several years when I went back to college. By the end of college, I was an okay typist by necessity, but it would have been nice to have been better starting out. I imagine most kids are good typists by the end of school now.
I'm going to say cooking, too, because I see far too many people relying on fast food and frozen meals to get by, when even basic cooking skills would save them a pile of money and be much better for them.
I will also say planning for retirement. We are getting to a point in Canada, where I don't think a lot of people realize how little money you actually get as a basic pension. It is meant to be a supplement, not to be your entire income. Who knows what will even be left of the pension plan in 50 years when these young folk are looking to retire.
Very mild for January today. Just a little above freezing. These temperature swings are nuts!
A short phone call with my Mom. There isn't much to say, but she seems content. She seems to enjoy the fact that there are other people around all the time. She mentioned that she is watching birds that come to a feeder that my niece put up near a window, maybe the one in her room?
It isn't easy to reach her. It seems like she is always getting ready for a meal, or eating a meal, or in the bathroom. She also doesn't answer the phone in her room, so I end up calling the care home staff phone and asking them to take the cordless to her. I know it's a bother, so I don't call a lot.
I took some blankets off the horses (since it was -20C yesterday), but left light ones on because it might rain again. Rain at these temperatures is worse than -20C and dry.
It's days like these that I really appreciate R at the barn. She WILL change blankets if it gets warmer or colder or if the blanket is soaked. At the other barn, I would have had to do it myself, and in times when we had these wild fluctuations I would have to be there almost every day to change them. If I couldn't come, then it likely wouldn't get changed.
I tried to go for a walk at a park nearby, but there is apparently no trail grooming done there any more, and after our recent snow, no path left. Pretty tough to break trail in snow up to your knees.
I decided to just walk around in town, the tiny village close to us. That worked out okay.
Then I came home, had a nice bath and a nap.
Then I ripped off my leg pelts and painted my toe nails.
I did some cleaning. I have to keep scrubbing the absolute hell out of the toilet bowl or it builds up iron stains. A load of laundry. Dishes.
What I learned today: That things are getting pretty intense with Russia right now, threatening to take over the Ukraine.
A question for you: What skills do you think a person should know in life these days? What skill do you wish you had?
I'm going to say typing skills. I had a class in high school, on an actual electric typewriter, but then didn't need to type for several years when I went back to college. By the end of college, I was an okay typist by necessity, but it would have been nice to have been better starting out. I imagine most kids are good typists by the end of school now.
I'm going to say cooking, too, because I see far too many people relying on fast food and frozen meals to get by, when even basic cooking skills would save them a pile of money and be much better for them.
I will also say planning for retirement. We are getting to a point in Canada, where I don't think a lot of people realize how little money you actually get as a basic pension. It is meant to be a supplement, not to be your entire income. Who knows what will even be left of the pension plan in 50 years when these young folk are looking to retire.
