Random 5 for March 2, 2025 – Spring, backup plans, wills, daylight length, technology upgrades

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Say what? – We were looking forward to March and a peaceful transition to spring but it’s not to be. After a few warm days we woke up to 19 degrees today (dang cold in Celsius!). The only good thing is that Tuesday is donut day when people gorge up on donuts in preparation for lent (when they gorge on other foods!). Surely spring can’t be too far behind. (I know it’s 2-1/2 weeks but Mother Nature doesn’t always follow the calendar!)

Stuff to think about – A friend was recently hospitalized with an emergency.  She lives alone and has a dog. Fortunately, she has family nearby who took care of the pup, but it made me think. Since there are two of us here, I naturally assume that if something happens to one of us, the other will feed the cats. (NOTE TO SELF: Make instruction sheet for beloved husband!) What happens if both of us are involved in an accident. Hmmm…I must think on this and make back-up plans. There is also a single woman with cats in the ‘hood. Maybe we’ll make a pact although her cats are older and need meds. I can administer meds (injections too) but one cat doesn’t come out for anyone but her. That makes it all harder. We’ll have to talk.

Art by Alex Millos

Speaking of back-up plans – In two weeks we are meeting with a new attorney to update our wills. Our old attorney (who we thought was very good) is in jail so he’s a “no” (disbarred, old and all that!). I need to make back-up plans for the cats too. I’m in the stage of life where I am downsizing pets, but I will always have some as long as I am able. I’d miss the barf cleanups and litter scooping along with the butts in the face and 6 a.m. wakeups. You can’t put a price on that.

Socializing again – One thing about spring that isn’t dependent on Mother Nature is the daylight length. I can feel it giving me more energy. Maybe I have the “too much darkness” disease and need special lights. I’ll think about that in the fall.

Mr. Technology – It took me years to convince the beloved husband to get a Fitbit to track steps and sleep. It tracks other things but those two I find very useful. In the past week something changed, and his treadmill steps weren’t tracked. He upgraded his Fitbit within a day. When he is on a mission, there is no stopping him!

So how was your week?

62 thoughts on “Random 5 for March 2, 2025 – Spring, backup plans, wills, daylight length, technology upgrades”

  1. That is a good idea making a plan to be sure your cats will be cared for if something happens. DH and I keep talking about getting wills made, but just somehow never get around to it. One of these days! Our weather has been crazy here too. Hopefully it settles down into just gradually getting warmer for you and for me as well!

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  2. I know what you mean about this March cold weather. What is up with this? I thought it would be a relative safe time weather-wise to visit Montreal. Although I wasn’t expecting Vancouver Island spring, I equally wasn’t expecting the -19C (+2 F) that we have been having. Man, it is cold – especially when waiting for buses! ❤

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  3. Yeah, I need to update life insurance policies and we are working on a living trust. Thankfully, our boys will take care of our pets for us. But that is because they live here now. If they ever move off to far away places, we too, will need another backup plan. The plan with a neighbor sounds good though. I can’t wait for Spring!! Come on Spring!!

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    • My mother had me hand write a will about 3 weeks before she died. I couldn’t get her to do one and then she was too sick to go to an attorney’s office. She didn’t have much so it was simple. I’m finding myself like her. I hate to focus on it but it’s time!

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        • We sold my mom’s house and split it among her children and grandchildren. It all went smoothly but it’s best if it’s verified by an attorney. We sold her home for $50K (a good price back in the day) and no one challenged anything. My husband’s kids live out west so it gets complicated.

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  4. We NEED to work on updating our wills – we did them YEARS ago and oh boy things are different for us now than they were then. Many people mentioned in the will are long gone for one thing but other things just need “work”. Far as I know, our attorney is not incarcerated (!) Can’t wait for WARMER weather – more walks for exercise and there’s a new breakfast restaurant in town for an “after walk” treat as we do our walks early mornings.

    Hugs, Pam

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  5. we think your old attorney was sure a good one, to land in jail is a goal the most of us never reach hahahahaha… but good luck with the new one and all the best for the friend in hospital

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    • We were stunned when he landed in jail. He was part of a real estate flap that blew up in his face. He was my husband’s attorney for decades and did a great job often not billing for minor things.

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    • 🙂 He was my husband’s lawyer for decades seeing him through a divorce and intense custody struggle (he got custody at a time when the laws favored moms). He was great. Somehow he got caught up in a real estate deal that went south. He was jailed for a short time and disbarred. He’s at least in his 70s if not 80s so I hope life has gotten better for him. I only met him once. He did my end of life docs and he was likeable.

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  7. Oh! I didn’t know Tuesday was doughnut day. That’s an inspiration for me. I think I’ll go to the special place down by the waterfront.

    It’s amazing how fast the days become longer (and also shorter in the fall). Now that we have all that information easily accessible on our phones, I keep track of how fast it happens. It’s especially dramatic when you live in the northern part of the country.

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    • It does happen fast. In the fall I don’t seem to notice it as much but in the late winter, I do. Maybe I’m wishing for spring weather. We are having yo-yo weather right now.

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  8. Sorry your lawyer ended up being a criminal. It is important to plan for your pets. So many sadly end up in shelters when their human passes.

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    • That is especially sad because they are used to having a home with people who love them. Shelters are great but many pets don’t do well there. When I adopted Mollie, she was an 18 month old mom cat. There was an 8 year old cat whose owner had gone into assisted living. I felt so badly for her. She just huddled in her cage. I always felt I should have adopted her too. Mollie was also scared and tried to hide in the cage. I was afraid no one would adopt her because she wasn’t friendly or playful. Fortunately our rescues have cat rooms now rather than cages. Gus never had a real home. He was found as a 6 week old kitten and was in the rescue for 3 years. He was very social in his room and adapted to house living with multiple cats easily.

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  9. Our weather is nothing special either and as it gets warmer, it will rain. My walking regimen is in dire straits right now.

    When Marge went on vacation, I took care of her cat Missy, who liked no one but Marge. I went over every night after work and Missy would hiss at me. I tried to play on the floor with her using some type of cat treat bits as tiddlywinks and she scratched me – badly.

    Last year I went and had a will and trust done. It took two visits with the attorney and some running around on my part, but it had to be done as I have no relatives (my father, if alive, would be 97 and I wanted to exclude him) and I needed a new Medical Designate (my boss and Marge had that dual role – she’s been gone since 2017 and my boss … well that wasn’t a good idea now that I’m retired).

    Nice story about your attorney who is in jail/disbarred – yikes. Years ago someone recommended my mom see a new doctor who was a gerontologist and had opened up a practice near us. So we went and he kept patting her knee and said his father was a widower and maybe she’d be interested? My mother took his hand off her knee, said “no thanks” and we never went back. A few years later he was sentenced to five years in federal prison for having a pain management clinic that was a “pill mill”.

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      • Yes it does. We liked our first attorney who drew up wills/power of attorney and medical designate – he was going to do all of it (executor and medical designate) but he was appointed to be a district court judge, so had to give up his practice. He referred our file to another attorney who said “Mr. Wygonik did this all wrong” and made us redo everything and said he could not be executor and medical designate, so we asked Robb and Marge. That attorney, who criticized Mr. Wygonik, did the wills wrong because when my mom passed away, the house did not automatically go to me as he did not do a ladybird trust, so I had to go to probate court to get this done … so I went back to that attorney who did the probate. He is younger than me (just about five years) but his daughter is in with his practice and his son is in a big firm, but will be joining him in the near future. So, I have my bases covered (hopefully). I wanted a small firm and I liked him for the probate matter.

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          • I was happy he had kids that were going to take over the practice … I sure don’t want to go through that effort again. He told me to just touch base with him once a year so he knows I am okay and to let him know if I go out of town. Good luck with getting your paperwork done.

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  12. “Too much darkness” disease is correctly acronymed as S.A.D., or Seasonal Affective Disorder. It is a depressive disorder related directly to the amount of day/sun light and offers the same symptomology as other types of general depression. It includes lack of energy but also lack of motivation, a sense about life as “meh” in general, and a desire to hibernate and not be sociable with others. I believe we all might suffer it to some degree when daylight isn’t with us for long periods of time; for me, it also hints of itself when multiple days of gray, dreary and rainy skies are about regardless of the season. I treat mine with a mild anti-depressant (which I take all year long so it doesn’t lose its effectiveness in my system and by spending as much time as possible sitting where I get the afternoon sun so I can soak it up. I remember first “feeling” it as a deep sense of melancholy that hits as autumn is in its fully glory, and that was when I was 19 years old, long before there was a diagnosis existing for it. I’m aware of its onset now, and the anti-depressant kicks it away after about a week of recognizing the onset.

    Find sunshine wherever you can!

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    • As I was reading the symptoms I was going yes, got that, yes, yep, that too. I can usually ride either close to or through the holidays because of all the activities but come January it’s in full swing. I have a friend who bought the lights made for it. It helped a little but her health issues were a lot more than just SAD. With the nicer weather (today is not — it’s COLD), I’ve felt a slight return of energy and ambition. Today not so much. I probably live in the wrong place.

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  14. We’re looking for a new attorney to update our wills but can’t find anyone who is younger than us. I mean NO ONE we know knows of any young estate lawyers. Apparently the under 50 crowd doesn’t like that kind of law so we remain with our current lawyer who isn’t in the best of health. It’s an odd situation, but there you go— what isn’t any more?

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    • Our old attorney (who I think is out of jail now but disbarred) is well in his 70s. We are going to a new group. It’s the daughter of the lawyer who started the business and she has another attorney with her. They do estate and maybe real estate law. I think they are younger than us but I won’t know until we meet them. There are two other firms that do only estate law locally. Both are family run and have younger lawyers along with the seniors (who are their parents). In our area when you do estate planning, it seems to be all family businesses rather than the big 5 name firms.

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      • Thanks for the insight. I’ll look around at smaller law practices. We’ve focused on asking lawyers in bigger firms who Z-D knows from his work days. Somewhere out there are estate lawyers.

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  15. When our last cat died we chose not to get another one because I worried about who would take it in if something happened to us. I never thought about it when I was younger. No one would take care of and spoil your cats the way you do!

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    • There are so many cats that never get a great home even for a short time. I had a cat when I lived at home. I moved out and she stayed with my mom for a few years before I settled somewhere I could take her. She adjusted to the new house easily. If I win the lottery I will go back to 4 cats (maybe more) and leave a nice inheritance for their care. Gotta buy a ticket!

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  16. After we got past 50 I was concerned about what would happen to our cats. When we were younger and first married I never gave it a thought. I guess I thought nothing would ever happen to us. I always believed that nobody would be as good at loving them and caring for them. I still feel that way… ridiculous maybe. I did not want them to be taken to a shelter. I worked at a couple of cat shelters and it didn’t leave a warm fuzzy feeling and that is why we are without cats. I see the flaws in my logic but… (?) Jerry’s family are dog people and have always made it clear they don’t like cats.
    I am happy to here you are enjoying your phone 🙂

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  17. It’s cold here too, single digit cold, but we have beautiful sunshine today. That disease is SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. I had one friend who had issues with it. We’ve been working on what we refer to as ‘death and dying.’ Putting files together while purging others – not a lot of fun. 🙂

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  19. Funny you mentioned how the days are getting longer. When the light popped up in the Park this morning during my run, I noticed it was earlierl despite the cold…23…I was over the moon that was suddenly gone. 🙂

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  20. We need a backup plan, too, for our pet situation. With the rescue, we ask folks to declare a “godparent” for any animal they adopt from us, just in case, but we don’t actually have one ourselves. We’re downsizing pet population too, but can’t imagine having no animals in the home. Lawyer in jail…that’s kinda spooky.

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    • In the event of our demise, we have relatives that would step up but they are not nearby. For shorter terms solutions, I’d like to seek out someone nearby who could help out for a week or two. I used to have a cat sitter I could call but we haven’t needed her in a while and I don’t know if she’s still doing it. She’s certainly a possibility but since we moved, we are not a short trip.

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  21. I agree on being so ready for the “lamb!” part of Spring!
    Yes, you can’t put a price on the joy that pets bring, even their early morning wake-up calls. 😂
    Good luck on making a good plan for your pets. Smart to think about it, though hopefully it won’t be needed.
    Oh, my on your lawyer being in jail. I guess they probably don’t allow him to work from jail? LOL!
    Haha on your husband wasting no time on upgrading his FitBit. I would say he likes it. 😊

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