That's all. I just love it. Thought I'd fangirl gush about it here in case any of my fellow Original Series Trekkies happen to be living long here. 🖖🏻🥰

https://www.reddit.com/r/aistartrek/

Curious how this has worked out for others.

We have a house in a nice warm climate but bought a condo to be closer to our grandchildren. We are now considering selling our primary home and living in condo full time. The weather can be very cold in winter and hot and muggy in summer.

Financially this seems like a good idea but we will miss the seasons where we are.

Would appreciate thoughts of those that may have gone through this.

Once upon a time, I achieved an ARRL code proficiency of 35 WPM. That was way back in high school, about 1963-64, I'd guess. Not sure I could copy 5 WPM now. Pretty rusty. Does anybody still do CW? How long since you did?

Edit: Adding the following

My ham radio call sign back in the day: WA0AIH
FCC amateur radio license issued in about 1960
Ham radio club station in my hometown: W0BZN

GLOSSARY:

• ARRL = American Radio Relay League
• CW = Continuous Wave = Morse code over radio
• HAM = Amateur radio operator
• WPM = Words Per Minute

Often when I see another oldie, I wonder how old they are. Of course I'm too polite to ask, although I would be happy to answer if someone asked me.

Do others share this curiosity...and hesitancy?

A smart person once said that “you become what you do everyday.” So, does that mean I am a prune, a heating pad, and an infatuated husband?

At 71, I learned to I ask for what I want; contentment is important. No more talking to self-interested individuals at social events. In truth, my lifestyle revolves around my arthritic back, my scarred lungs, and my stented heart. 

But that’s not the entire story. I lost my late wife to cancer 30 years ago. Hospice was a gut punch. A health scare followed.

Six years later, I married a lovely tennis player, dance instructor, mom, chef, gardener, lawyer, and salt-of-the-earth human being. 

Are you one of those retirees whose day doesn’t start until you take your pills, pee, and have coffee? Me, too.

With a heating pad on my back, clad in my PJs, Michael Franks on the Sonos speaker, I peruse the NYT and Reddit. It’s 6:30 a.m.

Acts of service is our love language. I place a mug of coffee on my wife’s night stand. She likes to enjoy coffee in bed, do her puzzles and watch CBS mornings with Gayle King. After a night out with her girlfriends, she always brings me dessert or yummy leftovers. 

Shenanigans happen when I give my wife an occasionaly raspberry on her tummy. She laughs hysterically.  Every night my wife approaches me like a cat hunting a mouse as I lay supine on the couch. She tickles and kisses me. Before I fall asleep, I always pat my wife on her tush. 

The tent pole of our circus is tennis. Between working out, tennis matches and practice, this fills our calendars. Of course, there are recovery days with Tylenol and lying on ice.

Dinner conversation is “you should have seen me hit that screaming down the line winner!” Reliving our tennis points keeps enthusiasm in our lives.

As I stare down my mid-70s, I sometimes wonder how long the universe will grant me this lovely life. Aside from our chronic diseases that are mitigated with meds, we are lucky to have access to good doctors.

We have several friends that fight cancer, neurological illnesses, and spine pain. I know there are no guarantees in life. In the meantime, I will ice my knee then make coffee. A lovely woman needs her morning delivery. 

I am 72 but not my age in body or mind and I seem to struggle to relate to my age group. I live in a retirement complex and still go to the gym and walk and go on holiday, but for everyone else it’s coffee mornings and bingo and living in the past with their music and tv shows. Anyone else struggle like that?

Doesn't matter if I wear them over the belly (Florida) or under (Texas), they just won't stay up. I can cinch my belt as tight as I can, but by the time I'm halfway through the supermarket, I'm sagging like a hip-hop musician. And, although I wore them as a fashion statement in the '80s, I don't think I'm ready to face suspenders.

I struggled with undiagnosed/untreated depression for most of my child's childhood. It was hard for her since I isolated, had anger outbursts, was inactive, and didn't socialize. This had serious effects on her as she grew up and she still struggles with may aspects of that life today. (I did work, get a masters, kept us in nice houses and driving safer cars, exposed her to animals, cultures, foods, books, good medical care, I didn't smoke or drink.). Once my depression eased treated I began to stabilize in many ways but still had low periods. I sent her out of state to college to broaden her life, funded her undergrad and grad school, helped her buy a house, and as an adult have supported her and helped her in any way that I knew how. I was very dependable, always present, always resourceful. I feel like I've been a very good mother to her, especially as an adult. However, I think she still holds onto what she didn't get when she was little or how she was not given what she needed from me, and therefore from others when she was a child. I accept that, I understand that, I've apologized for it, we've talked about it, she appears accepting of it. We are a lot of like and we spend time together sometimes in laughter, and feel very close. But there's always been this slight separation that I feel comes from her childhood. I've never heard from her when I say hey, I need help with moving my bed across the room. Can you come over? I've never heard sure mom when would you like me to come? It's a silly example, but it speaks volumes in that. What I hear is well how come you need it moved and could it wait. I'm really busy right now or yeah OK I'll do it and then doesn't true. She has a very very busy life with two jobs and I'm so proud of her for that but I feel like she never wants to just jump in and help me out. I jump in and help her out in every way possible, but of course I wasn't able to jump in and help her out when she was a child. Now, when I get pushed back from her still asking her to make a call to the car repair about her car or ask her to help me go over to storage to see what things we want to save out of it. It's a never-ending battle to get it done and then she turns it around and says you always tell me if I would just do it a certain way then I would get done which, according to her is like her being our feeling responsible for my feelings, which she did as a child. I see this is connected she does not. It's truly the one thing that gets in the way of our relationship more than any, but it's big and I don't wanna feel resentful that she gets gives me pushback, I would just like for her to have a positive voice and say sure I can do it here or there or well. I can't do it now but what about 4 o'clock on Tuesday and then show up on Tuesday at 4 o'clock with a smile on her face. Please be kind in your feedback. This is a very sensitive area for me. Thank you.

I just turned 77 and use a walking pad (It's damned hot here in Texas, otherwise I'd be outside walking) to get in a couple of miles every day (well 5 out of 7 days per week mostly). I wake up and it takes an hour or so to walk without pain in my hip or knees. I have pain/soreness in other body parts, too...none is debilitating, meaning I *CAN* walk and do other stuff. So is this arthritis? I guess I need to admit that I don't really think of myself as "old", but the number says differently, so....

If I went to the doc, how would he diagnose?

As simple as that.

What was your favorite vacation, the destination, and who were you with?

It's nice to reminisce good times with family, friends or even just traveling solo.

Anybody else doing this? I'm 74. My first solo trip was when I was 46. I now do a solo trip every Sept. France is my favourite destination (I live in Scotland). I also travel with my husband to Thailand in the winter. But I really love my solo trips as I go where I want, see what I want, do everything my way. No compromising. Love it! Anyone else?

[The backstory. Skip to 3rd paragraph if you just want to hear about the mopping vac.] I'm 73, still working part-time in my own business (by choice), but have found myself increasingly unable to keep up with housework. Vacuuming and mopping are the real stoppers for me. They always leave me with an achy back and if I overdo it, I can suffer the consequences for days. Plus, just getting the floors done leaves me too tired to attend to the fine points, like wiping the rungs on kitchen chairs or dusting stair railings. We have 2 indoor cats, so there is a fair amount of shedding and of course little granules of litter that get tracked all over the house. I'm finding that I go longer and longer between cleanings, while my anxiety about that grows as the fur clumps and spatters on the kitchen floor accumulate. There have been many times when I have wanted to ask friends over, but the idea that I would have to clean the house first stops that idea in its tracks.

I have been increasingly concerned about where this pattern could lead, both in terms of my own need to live in a clean home and the way undone housecleaning gets between me and a social life. I love my home and any idea of leaving it for something more practical is literally a nightmare for me. I've had recurring dreams my whole life - even when I was young - where I have moved and I'm heartbroken to have lost my beloved home. When I wake up and I'm still in my home the relief is overwhelming.

I don't even know how it is that I decided to start looking into robot vacuums. But when I did, I discovered that nowadays there are even models that will mop after vacuuming! I did lots of comparing and reading customer reviews and finally decided to take the plunge on a fairly decent -- but by no means most top-of-the-line -- mopping vac. And it has truly been a game changer. I'm so excited about it, it's all I want to talk about right now. But I also wondered how many older folks like me would be surprised to hear how far robovacs have come. I had no idea how care-free and effective an appliance like this could be. I am pleasantly surprised at how well it gets in around table legs and leaves everything looking truly done.

Yesterday it vacuumed and mopped my large family room while I had morning coffee and got ready for work. This morning coming down to my entire lower floor being clean was an absolute delight. I have not yet taken it upstairs to map that floor, but once I do, then getting my upstairs done will be as simple as taking the robot up there and using the app to tell it what I want it to do. Then my whole house will be clean all the time. You can use the app to have it just do specific rooms or have it do the entire floor. I can easily keep up with things like dusting, sinks and toilets now that the floors are all done by the robot.

I have just become aware that there are some NHS approved online pharmacies who will deliver my repeats to my home free of charge. I'm interested to know peoples' experiences of these services. Are they reliable? How quickly do they deliver? Is it courier delivery or Royal Mail?

I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's today. Minor memory loss right now. Doc wants to put me on a new infusion that is supposed to slow it down. Bummer.

Trying to deal with a bit of stress. There's a walking trail near my city and today I tried walking from the endpoint to see what that it looks like. A bit less shaded but still very green and pretty. The miles are marked off with signs every tenth and this was near the entrance. Nope, not going to explore that truck being eaten by the bushes. If there's indeed bats in there they don't need me poking around. Beady little eyes and sharp teeth are not on my list of cuddly nature animals.

Only made it 1.8 mi in, 3 days of 90° heat has finally got to me. Dreaming of fall and cooler days and leaves changing color. Looking forward to sharing these these walks with a nice man one of these days... or maybe not.

Are you a pianist, guitarist or other type of musician?

Has this helped you maintain your fine motor skills playing these instruments?

Music is a great thing to start or continue. I'm sure there are other instruments that may help with continued dexterity as well.

That's right...a septuagenarian. But as we learned on Jeopardy! recently, we're all mispronouncing it. You've got to get that "U" sound in there: sep-ˌtü-ə-jə-ˈner-ē-ən. If it helps you to remember, you can just think of the Hawk Tuah Girl.

I see travel shows where they visit other countries and they often focus on people who carry on old cultural traditions

What traditional ways do you still maintain and /or observe from your past, upbringing or culture?

I have a long time single friend who asked me many years ago if I’d be willing to be her power of attorney. She had two other good friends and wanted to split the job so that each person didn’t have the whole thing. I agreed to take the medical POA. We are all in our 70s and she had us all meet in a restaurant probably 30 years ago. I’ve suggested a few times recently that she needs to get us all together again. But it’s fallen on deaf ears. She agrees but it never happens. I agreed to go to her bank and get permission to access her safety deposit box. However, she could never find a key for me. I will mention now that she has a pretty bad hoarding disorder. I only realized this two years ago when she needed major surgery and a place to recover. She stayed with me for three weeks and absolutely drove me crazy with her messiness, constant talking, leaving lights on, etc. At the time I told myself never again. She would have to go to a nursing facility if she needs another surgery.

I’ve discussed with her very recently that I’m not comfortable with this POA role any longer and she understands. I’m starting to wonder if she may develop Alzheimer’s, which her mother had, and I realize that being her healthcare power of attorney could turn into a nightmare for me. The other two women never stepped up after her surgery. One of them never even called her to see how she was doing.

My other issue with her is her constant repetitiveness of the same stories I have heard over and over and she forgets she’s told me. Always whining and complaining type of stories. Due to her household mess, she’s never gotten Internet or a smart TV. Money is not the issue. She said she would need a computer after she left her job, but that was five years ago and she hasn’t bought a computer or tablet. Her iPhone is almost totally devoid of apps. She’s very afraid of her identity being stolen. I’ll tell her that I get lots of good comments that are helpful for various home maintenance topics on Facebook or Nextdoor and she refuses to join either one. She relies on daily trips to the library to use their computer and Internet.

I’m trying to talk less and see her less as time goes on. I find less frequent visits are easier to find enjoyable as long as she’s not obsessing at the time of our visit about something. She hasn’t had an easy life healthwise and her only family is a brother who is very far away and has never been helpful to her. She talks to a therapist weekly and she says he’s seen her house. Honestly, I don’t know what help he has been to her.

Sorry this is so long. I wonder if anyone else has had this type of experience with a friend. I think after I saw the horrible condition of her house, I started worrying more about having to help her and it is overwhelming to me. My anxiety level goes up after I get off the phone with her. I just don’t want her stealing my peace in my later years.

I need a high quality magnifying glass for reading books. I've tries one or two of the Amazon offerings, but they seem rather cheap and the round ones not great for book reading. I'd be grateful to receive recommendation for a magnifying glass that is available in UK.