DO I NEED MORE OF THESE?

 

DO I NEED MORE OF THESE?

When I was a kid growing up, there was a five and dime store a block or so away from us. They advertised many things including ‘notions’. Now to this day, I haven’t a clue as to what ‘notions’ actually are, but my wife says it was makeup, cosmetics, etc. Something that you got a ‘notion’ to buy. I guess that’s the best answer….maybe you heard it different.

Now that we have moved to the country and downsized, I have taken an inventory of our kitchen and found we have an overabundance of items which we actually do not need. In the five and dime store, we could buy a pot. Just an ordinary cooking pot. A very cheap pot. But look at what it can replace today. Nearly everything.

We really don’t need a tea pot, a rice cooker, a egg cooker, or a multitude of other things that can easily be handled by the simple, no frills cheap pot. I have brewed coffee in a pot before. I could do it again. I also don’t need a pot strainer; I can use a plate or the top to my pot to drain off the water.

I don’t need a toaster; I have an oven. I have toasted bread in the oven before. No big deal.

I certainly don’t need a chicken shredder; I can use 2 forks just as well. Who needs an egg peeler? Toss it away. Learn how to cook eggs that peel easier. An electronic gravity salt and pepper shaker? I thought if you turned a saltshaker upside down, you didn’t need a battery, gravity is free. Works every time. A garlic crusher? Use your knife.

I have a panini maker, a George Forman grill and a waffle maker. Seems to be over kill to me. Something is going. Probably the panini maker. I can’t spell panini much less make one. I think I can use the stove again for this.

Avocado slicer? Nope, use a knife. Wine opener? Nope, use a corkscrew. Bell pepper corer? Nope, use the same knife.

Here are some things I don’t have and certainly don’t need.

A chip bag sealer. I have never needed to actually SEAL a chip bag as I have never opened one without eating the entire bag. Who does this? Have you ever needed to seal a potato chip bag after you opened it? Uneaten chips are unheard of in our family.

A noodle maker? Nope, I am not making noodles, I buy them in a box. You need a hobby if you have time to make noodles. Besides, just look at how long you have to make your own noodles to break even on buying one of these contraptions.

A defrosting tray? Put the frozen stuff in the window in the sun.

Last but not least. A watermelon slicer. Use the same knife you used in the examples above. Always wash the knife between cuttings. (public service announcement).

That’s all the wisdom I have for this week, see you next week.

Peary Perry

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE_____?

 

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND ______?

About half of those who receive my weekly blog are close to my age and the other half are much younger. I really don’t know who this article will apply towards the most.

Computers are good and certainly useful for research or curiosity or just random information. Of course, you must be careful to verify if what you are reading is truthful or just pure fiction. For example, the other day I was reading an article about Leonardo DeVincimichaelangelo who said the model for his famous painting was really named Lisa Maria Paderwerski. I don’t think this is correct, but who knows?

Companies spend millions of dollars trying to keep all our data safe and out of the hands of crooks to prevent fraud and theft. In my opinion, it’s money well spent. It might be easy for you younger folks to handle all of the safeguards, but to a lot of the older non-computer illiterate folks, it’s a pain in the rear for a lot of reasons. By the time you get to be 83 like me, our brains are full of stuff we’ve stored and experienced over these 80+ years. We have a hard time finding space for more stuff. It is also dangerous to learn something new as it may result in something like your address being deleted to make room.

It’s one thing to force us to use a password, but the requirements change with every site. Some want a number, a symbol, a capital letter and another letter in small caps. Some want more and some want less. Some want a pattern of some sort. Others require you to use a OTP (one time password) and then send the OTP back to them via your phone. Other have this dandy puzzle in which you must identify all of the busses or traffic signals in the squares. Now they have one that makes you fit some part into a puzzle of some kind or another. How do people do any of this stuff without a cell phone?

Now all of these require you to keep up with this huge inventory of password and log in names. You also have to remember the password you used for some company 5 years ago, since you can’t repeat it. I tried using one of those password services companies that remember all of this stuff for you. But I have a cell phone, a PC and a Kindle so they don’t seem to work on all of them. So, I do what I suspect the majority of you do which is to keep a small black notebook with all of this vital information that controls your entire life. Heaven forbid if this were to fall into the hands of the ‘enemy’, whoever that is. Of course, I am not dumb enough to write down the actual log in and password information in my little black book.

Of course, not. I code it all with a secret code that changes with every entry I make and after many attempts, I usually end up gaining access to my account. I should get a gold medal for trying or at least a ‘Atta Boy’ sticker of some sort.

I know, I’ll look on Amazon and see if they have any for sale.

But wait, that means I’ll have to log onto their website and get onto my account. I just changed the password yesterday.

Where did I write it down?

See you next week…Peary Perry

HELP!!! I'VE FALLEN AND CAN'T GET ____?

 

HELP!!!  I’VE FALLEN AND I CAN’T GET______?

 

Well, we all know the missing word here, don’t we?

Life for us is a never-ending mystery, we kind of wake up in a new world each day now that I have retired.

For one thing, I find it very hard to relax and just take a nap. I feel guilty and absolutely refuse to get under the covers during the day.

The two of us have had to adjust to being around each other 24/7. For those of you who haven’t done it, it is harder than it sounds. She has or had a schedule and so did I which has now been thrown to the four winds. Even the dog is confused because we are all here all of the time. I am constantly looking for things to do, but when you live in a brand new house, there isn’t anything that is broken or needs fixing.

I can only mow the yard so many times a week. It just doesn’t grow fast enough.

So, we have taken up walking to get back into shape and improve our health. We mapped out a course and are hitting our marks five times a week, come rain or shine.

This simple task has produced new challenges for us elderly people. We live in the country; I mean in the real county. We may see one or two cars or trucks in our hour-long preamble but not enough to count on in case of emergency, for one thing I have had both knees replaced. In case you didn’t know once you have your knees totally replaced you cannot ever kneel down like you did with your real knees. They just don’t bend the same way. My doctor told me they have to warn folks who kneel to pray, won’t happen again after they are replaced.

This poses an issue if I stumble and fall down. As it stands now, if I get on the floor for something (I try not to do so) I must crawl to a chair or something to work my way back to a standing position. Not a pretty sight. Out on a country road this could be an issue. Secondly neither of us can hear very well, so if one of us falls down and is behind the other of us, then one of us can be on down the road for a piece before someone is discovered missing. Then we have to ramble (we are mostly rambling, not power walking, definitely not running or jogging) back to the scene of the crime to determine the next course of action.

Thank God for cell phones, and fire departments. I hope they have a winch of some kind to remove me to a vertical position. Otherwise I’ll just have to lay out here in a ditch until the trash guys come by on Tuesdays, these guys are big and strong and can get me back up without any problem.

Anyway, I started Googling ‘how to help the elderly’ and I suggest you don’t do this unless you are a person who wallows in abject misery. It will depress you deeply. take my word for it, exercise daily, eat right, don’t ruin your knees and try to live with someone who has good hearing.

See you next week…Peary Perry