My dad has been getting increasingly infirm physically, and sleeping a lot more lately, so I think the countdown may have speeded up quite a bit in the last couple of years. He's already lived to a greater age than anyone on that side of the family except my paternal grandmother, and frankly has made it further than I expected him to. Thankfully his mind is sound, and he's generally in good spirits.

Mom's family is freakishly long-lived and tends to stay active and mobile right up to the end, so there's a not insignificant chance she might outlive me. Our cousins who are 90 and 88 are just now having to consider options other than living alone in their respective houses.

Ginger, unless ships start landing, I don't think Grovers Mill was one of the places that saw the fireball.

I am an introvert, and I also want to move into a retirement community. There are lectures and crafts and activities! I suspect the ones I would like are far more expensive than I would be able to afford!

Timelies all!

Florida Gulf Coast? Really?

(Ah, March Madness...)

Waiting to talk to a guy about some serious yard work. Market done, complete with a cop warning us about muggings in the area. I could be more alarmed, I suppose, but I'm really not a fan of being hostage to fear.

Cheese grits again today. NOM.

Pumpkin would be a lap cat if she'd just sit down. Instead, she just deposited a lot of fur on my keyboard.

OK dude, get here, I need to go run some errands and stain some furniture. I have a schedule here....

Are there any Buffistas babies in the 18-24lb range (or who need a size lg, if that is meaningful) who could use a fleece sleeper?

A slew of us largely-single females have joked about this block turning into a defacto functional retirement community if we all stay put and stick to our habits.

A NORC! (Naturally-occuring retirement community) It's what happens when people age in place.

That sounds like a fantastic outfit, Burrell.

When my Mom's mom finally was in a nursing home it was such a good thing. She should have been in one a lot sooner because of her dementia but there was a split my aunt who was her caretaker and Mom were pro nursing home. My uncle and other aunt were against it. Finally the caretaker aunt started having health problems her doctor said were directly related to the stress she was under and she got G'ma in a nursing home.

And even though her dementia was fairly well advanced there were some improvements in her attitude and personality. She was happier.

Personally I think my Grandma E needs to be in assisted living, she lives with my aunt but it's far away and there's no good elder services where she is. So Grandma E is stuck at home most days by herself - and she such an extrovert! And she can't call people and talk on the phone much because her hearing is bad. I think she'd have fun living near more people and having a community to be involved with, but I don't think it will happen until the issue is forced.

The parental stuff is super difficult for us right now. All four of our parents have some variant of health issues, and on the one side just got through the difficult process of nursing homes, etc. with the grandparents, so I don't see them opting for that choice for themselves anytime soon. On the other side, they did a lot in building a good accessible house, but they will be super resistant even to getting in home help.

It's stuff that we would totally help with if we were there, but we're not. The SO's siblings are there, but have kids and do what they can, but more is likely needed. My sister is in Dallas and her husband is a VP of a company his family helped found, so I don't see her seeing her way clear to becoming a fulltime caregiver.

There's lots of other issues at play, but really it's just hard.

That sounds like a fantastic outfit, Burrell.

Thanks, Jesse. It certainly fit the day. It was fun to see all those women dressed up and wearing hats.

I think it would be hard to make the move into assisted living, although having seen the toll long term care takes on family, I hope I'll be willing to make that move when the time comes. But in-home help? I don't understand resisting that if you can afford it.