I've sometimes wondered if there might be some people out there who felt a little envious of folks my age. My sister Elsie, who was four years younger than me, used to get to raving about what they called the Golden Years. She would bring up all the inconveniences and what she attributed to being too old. She finally accepted the fact that she was old. I think my case is different. She didn't live long enough to be anywheres near my age. She moved into an assisted living complex and she was able to cook for them there for a while. 

 The other day I had an appointment with a lady doctor who sells all kinds of seeing aids. The one I bought is a plastic box about four inches long with a clear lens that covers the top and then across the middle there is a narrow light amber lens. The handle holds two flash light batteries. It certainly magnifies and makes it easier to read by but you do have to have what you are reading on a flat level surface. Any way it cost me $374 and I hope it proves to be worth it.

 You know I was never a big believer in miracles. Three or four days ago I had dry skin trouble so bad I'd get up two or three times a night to slather my face temples, throat with skin moisturizer. I had three different kinds I'd been trying out, any one of them would give me momentary relief but soon I'd be wanting to scratch my skin. By then I'd learned that to scratch just left me in more delicate condition. So I would just touch with the tips of my fingers where I felt like digging. 

 I'd also been having trouble getting to sleep. So, I'd been taking prescribed little pill or sometimes a Tylenol PM. I could usually get four or five hours sleep with these and then I'd lay awake will morning. As I would go to bed quite early this still meant I was losing a lot of sleep. If I complained of how miserable I felt Jim or Monica or both would tell me if I read the side effects warning they would tell me that described me to a T. So I decided to give their plan a try, take nothing. For three full nights I laid there tossing and turning and feeling miserable. 

 Last night at 2:00-something I had just anointed myself again and really felt sleepy. The next thing I knew there was Fritz and Monica by the side of my bed wanting to know if I was alright. Some how I had depressed the Lifeline button that I wear at all times and is not an easy thing to do. This sets off an alarm in the sheriff's's office and according to plan, he calls my house. They rang and rang for some time but got no response. This was strange as she has a phone right by her bed as do I. But after three full nights of no sleep probably I was like dead. Then the plan is for them to call Pat and Fritz's house and that's how Fritz was standing by my bed wanting to know if I was all right. 

 Just had a call from my neighbor from up the road. Sandy Rosenberger, she builds blue bird houses and mounts them along the roads here on the hill. Tony Eastwood who usually plays music at my birthday parties claims that the bulk of bluebirds winter in Brazil. Sandy and her husband were mounting bluebird houses along the roads this morning as they saw male bluebirds arguing over which house they would raise their children in. Monica says she sees some here on the hill that have stayed here all winter.