Random 5 for September 8 – Nature, fall, procrastination, chores, happy

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I know better – As the keeper of four bird feeders, I know a lot about birds. At least birds at feeders. They are like people. Some are clumsy and fly into things. When you see one sitting in the grass it’s best to let it be. It may be catching its breath after a crash landing much like I do when I trip. I don’t know why I didn’t do that. There was a bird sitting in the long grass. I worried that it was sitting bait for a predator so I opted to move it to under a bush. Unfortunately I didn’t move fast enough and I terrified the poor thing. It flew into a tree trunk and fell. I’m pretty sure it broke something because it died. Hands off next time. I may not like seeing nature take its course but I really can’t change it.

Getting reclusive – The weather this summer has made me reclusive. With almost constant rain or high temperatures/humidity, I opted out of some things I would normally do. Being home seemed good enough. Even neighborhood walks were rare. At the start of the summer I was hopeful that I could stack my walks with my walking group in the morning and a neighborhood jaunt later in the day. Mostly that did not happen and not because I didn’t want to. For the first time ever I am looking forward to the fall. If you see me embrace pumpkin lattes, call for a strait jacket!

I’m not a procrastinator – Except when I am. The “required maintenance” light on my car’s dashboard has been on for two months. It’s not a warning light but a (stupid) reminder. I don’t know how it’s set but it’s not time for any sort of maintenance. The dealership told me to “just come in” and they would reset it. It would only take a minute. I’m not believing it. Nothing takes a minute. In the ER center at the hospital a few minutes takes four to six hours. I’ll have to check in (that’s already more than a minute); wait for a free mechanic (no idea how long that takes); only then will the minute start. It’s could be an hour easy. Consequently, it’s on my (procrastination) list of things to do.

Speaking of procrastinating – There are chores I don’t like to do (like getting stupid lights cleared). Cleaning the basement (which is finished) is another one that’s on my procrastination list. We don’t use it often. The cat’s litter room and the treadmill are down there. This past week I started attacking with fervor the list of things I procrastinate about so there is hope for that warning light. Maybe. Basement is done but it didn’t require me to leave the house!

Working on the smile – Older folks can get testy. Often they don’t feel well or they get frustrated when they don’t understand things. Or maybe they can’t hear or see well enough. I see it a lot. They stop smiling and grumble. No one wants to be around them. I became focused on this earlier in the year. I don’t want to be a grumpy old person so I focused on smiling and engaging even if I had to push myself. I even made notes to remember people’s names. It seems to work. It’s either that or people think I’m a weirdo in lalaland. Either way is OK with me.

So how was your week? Are you procrastinating?

93 thoughts on “Random 5 for September 8 – Nature, fall, procrastination, chores, happy”

  1. I HATE those required maintenance lights on cars. I have them disabled because it causes me too much grief. I don’t need a light when they put reminder stickers on my windshield.
    Older people do stop smiling, I suppose with reason at times. I’ve noticed the same thing recently. I hope I never get that way.

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  2. Kate, I don’t see you procrastinating here but adjusting with common sense to the weather — which in turn throws your schedule out of whack. And personally I am utterly lost without a schedule and waste so much time! I curse myself for this right now as you can imagine. Wasting time in Seoul?? Am I crazy? Only human, like you.

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  4. I hope you get out and socialize a bit more this fall. I hope that’s on your list too. Go back to mall walking, you often mentioned the folks from those walks.
    This is just my sage advice, as a deep deep recluse. If I didn’t go to work, I would see no one.

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  5. I’m so sorry about the little bird and I know you feel bad! Your heart was in the right place! It’s interesting to hear your thoughts on smiling. I take my granddaughters to school in the morning and here I am a good 20-plus years older than the average parent on the school grounds. I’ve been making it a point to make eye contact and say hello to the other parents. It’s been interesting to see how surprised some of them are, and now I’m getting the “hello” before I offer mine! I am interested in making a good impression–I’m representing senior citizens everywhere. LOL!

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  6. In the Pacific Northwest, we tend to be reclusive in the winter when the days are so short. There’s hardly time to go out and do anything before the sun goes down. Summer? That’s our time. And it was pretty darn good, except for the week or so when we had forest fire smoke.

    Re. older folks and smiling. Last week at the supermarket I noticed the big frown on an older woman walking towards me. I smiled at her, and she gave me a big smile back, transforming her face. Age causes our faces to sag, giving lots of us older people an angry appearance. Working on your smile is a great idea. Remembering names is good too but harder.

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    • In a normal year we are like you. Outdoors in the summer and more reclusive in the winter. This year was different as we hid from torrential downpours peppered with extremely hot and humid weather. Maybe next year. You are right about our faces starting to drag down. Sometimes I think frowny people may not feel their best either.

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  9. I understand the whole “working on the smile” thing. Why does this get harder as we get older? We should be smiling MORE – fewer responsibilities, fewer demands on our time, and grandchildren! 🙂

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  10. I feel badly about your little friend but I’d have reached out to help as well, then been devastate when he up and flew into the tree. I saw that baby robin on the sidewalk a few months ago and wanted to scoop him up and put him in a nest – no nest around. I thought about it all day, but couldn’t go back the next day. Afraid what I might see. I hope his Mom guided him into a safe haven, like some bushes, until he was ready to fledge. This weather is absolutely crazy! It was 98 a week ago today – just oppressive. Today, our high was 58 degrees, and it was a north wind at 20 mph – very blustery. Rain and drizzle since noon and through Monday. Just miserable weather. I felt lucky I got a walk in, but didn’t leave the neighborhood as it was dark and looked like rain any minute. I did my housework this afternoon – the number one thing I procrastinate about. My basement is finished, but I really don’t go down there too much except for laundry and my pantry shelves are down there in one room. I need to back on my exercise bike more than I do.

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    • I’m not good at exercising at home, hence the gym. We went from 93 degrees to 53 in less than 48 hours. Is that neurotic or what? Not much walking around here this week. It is yet again raining hard and predicted to rain all week.

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      • We had the same drop in temperature and I ended up putting on the heat as it was just too cold and damp in here. I endured it yesterday as I was not sitting, but this morning it was 69 degrees in the house and the humidity was 72 percent and very cold, so I put it on. I’ve never had the heat on this early, except for when we had our canaries. We’ve had rain since yesterday at around 11 or 12 noon and they say it is the dregs of Tropical Storm Gordon. We have a nice rest of the week, slowly climbing back to the mid-80s and more humidity – sigh. I hope it is nicer this weekend. What a disappointment the weather has been. I have some friends who may be impacted by Florence so I don’t like to whine to them – it sounds like it might really slam the coastline.

        I did the gym with friends at Elaine Powers years ago and we really liked it – went four days a week but I don’t belong to a gym now. I should get down on that bike again.

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  12. I’m a fall person. Fall is the time I like to get things done. Including finding that purrfect cat purse! I think I’ve eyed about 500 purses in the last week between Ebay, and Amazon.ca Still, nothing I like. Ack! 😛 My search will continue until that purrfect kitty purse eyes me!:D Hope you have wonderfully cooler weather this fall, and enjoy watching the leaves fall. Its the best time of year!

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  13. I’m a hopeless procrastinator. You’d think I would have grown out of this habit but I think it’s in my DNA. Fortunately, my husband is the opposite so he keeps us on track. I have learned, though, not to mention a project that needs to be done unless I’m willing to start working on it RIGHT AWAY. He doesn’t understand the concept of “later.”

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    • Argh! My husband is like that mostly. If he needs something, he goes out immediately and buys it. I dawdle, googling on-line, reading reviews. He does the research much faster than me. With projects he’s like that too. I’m still thinking about what I want and he’s ripping apart wood!

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  15. Keep Smiling and making people wonder! 🙂
    This summer I have been indoors so much more as well because of so much rain! I am hoping for a beautiful, dry Fall, before I stay indoors again because of it being too COLD!

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    • I’m in the same boat. I really missed an outdoor summer. Even picnics were rainy or rained out. My hair is starting to think flat against my head is the way it’s supposed to be! Still…better than the alternative and I have high hopes for a gorgeous fall.

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  16. I am l always procrastinating about something or more than one something. I have been reclusive this summer because of the heat and humidity and because it rains every ding dang day! Also there has been the red tide stink. So sorry about the little bird, I know it left you feeling sad. Our week was nice… had gal’s lunch out yesterday on the water. Food was good and it didn’t rain! CH fixed the storm door so I wouldn’t walk into the kitchen again and find a little gecko on the floor and scream like a little girl.

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    • At least you are going into your “best” season soon. This ding dang summer was our best season! I remember meeting my first gecko. I was in Curacao and the cleaning person left the sliding doors to the patio while she cleaned. I found one on the bed. Called the front desk and this poor maintenance guy who couldn’t speak good English kept saying, “Don’t worry, it’s harmful!” That wasn’t very reassuring. I checked out the bed before I went to sleep every night.

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  17. Several years ago when I was in a training session to work with the public, I was told there were two kinds of faces… those that naturally look pleasant and positive… and those that naturally look sour. I thought I was in the first group, but turns out I was in the latter. So since then I’ve made an effort to put a smile on my face. I walk around A LOT and I make a point of looking at other people’s faces… with a smile on my face. Very rarely is it returned… especially with younger people (which at my age is most of the population). Once in a big while somebody smiles back which makes it worth it. The others probably think of me as a crazy old lady, which is fine with me!

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  18. You have the best comment section, Kate. Your readers are just as entertaining as your blog posts! Ugh, sorry about the poor bird. I once left a snake in the drive to carry on its mission . . . and then my husband accidentally backed over it with the car!

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  20. I’ve been fighting against upcoming Autumn every step of the way. Summer weather began late here, so my theory has been that it should end late as well. Even the mention of Pumpkin Spice Lattes has made me grumpy.
    As you say, nature will take its course. I need to move on.
    But….maybe a Berry Blizzard from Dairy Queen will help summer last for another day!

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    • Crazy weather here. Two days ago it was in the low 90s. Today it’s not expected to hit 60. Yesterday the high was in the mid-60s. I am longing for good weather. I don’t care what season you call it and definitely berry blizzard over pumpkin latte.

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  21. Love the bird line…some are clumsy and fly into things. They sound like Lucy with wings. And I get the rescue instinct…I still worry about that canary who flew out her window.

    The elderly…sigh. There are so many people in wheelchairs with bored attendants on their phones. Breaks me heart plus, scares the hell out of me, never wanting to be one. I always smile, even if they grumble, especially when I’m told…oh he don’t know nothin’ no more. How do we know that? I’m lucky I’m not in jail for choking a caregiver, or two. I’d be the vigilante taking up their cause even if they knew nothin’ no more. Sigh

    It’s chilly here on the Avenue. Mother Nature didn’t take her meds again. Nice list, as always.

    🙂

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  23. Procrastination is my middle name. No, it’s my first name! Matter of fact I am procrastinating right now…I have family coming for dinner tonight. I have things to cook, things to set up and things to run to the store to buy. And yes, here I sit. I give myself, self imposed time limits. Permission to sit for say another 1/2 hour and then…the only thing I can say is that I have never procrastinated about procrastinating! It comes very naturally.

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  24. Heat and humidity do deter us from walking, don’t they? I used to think I should take a walk after the midday meal, in addition to the morning walk. I may have done it once — once in four years!

    Don’t we all have things we put off???? If I did everything I tell myself I should do, I’d never get to blogging! Procrastination items are spacers, and we desperately need them to regulate our lives.

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  25. Oh, I hear you on the wildlife. It’s so hard when you want to help. I always worry about the fledgling mocking birds hopping around my front yard, but the most I can do is make sure no cats get out while they figure out how to fly. I was lucky, though. My first “Wait! I, the great human, will save you, little bird!” moment was pretty instructive; the fledgling hopped into the shrubbery, and I figured out she was okay.

    Now my I just have to tell the neighbor kids to leave them alone.

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