Good afternoon--er, evening I guess. This morning I had to do some detailed research I promised someone I'd do. By the time I got done with that and a couple of other things, it was time to go to the farmer's market, the first one I've been to this season. Just a short bus ride away--I must have spent longer waiting for the bus each way than riding it. But it would be too time consuming and rough on my knees to walk there and back.
The market is in the parking lot of the former armory which is now a great big park district facility. Lots of vendors, and this early in the season the majority of booths are selling stuff other than fresh produce, though I'm sure it's very nice. However, I scored a nice vine-ripened tomato, box of strawberries that look and smell very real and juicy, some baby red potatoes (I like to use the mini ones for potato salad), a bunch of dill (until the crop I'm starting matures), and a nice head of red leaf lettuce. I don't know exactly where they grew this stuff but it was definitely closer than California. Possibly some of it is grown hydroponically not very far from the city. It was nice to get out and about and see other people strolling around in the sunshine doing the same thing.
I ran across an interesting news tidbit that relates to the G7 thing happening in Canada. If you follow the link to the AP story, you'll see a good example of how a thoughtful and responsible human being makes a decision when confronted with the possibility of a confrontation that he did not want to have. Even better are the words he used to explain his decision and how he went about it. If only he'd been born in the U.S., we could think about electing him president! Please note that though the headline mentions rage, the "buried lede" is that rather than go with the rage, he let his "better angels" direct him in a more positive path. It doesn't matter much whether his words had any effect on Trump, but what an example for everyone else.
Copyediting note: The story includes a use of peoples' with the apostrophe after the s, but a close reading showed me that there are three of the "First Nations" and he was apparently representing other tribes in addition to his own, so the plural possessive is correct. Elsewhere in the story the word people's is also used correctly
Over at Tooze...an interesting map of lightning strikes in the continental US. It looks like the triangle of Austin, Waco, and Houston get thousands more strikes than anywhere else, with mid-South Florida along the west side coming in second. Third is a hazy area around Arkansas and Oklahoma including parts of the TX panhandle.
It’s been cloudy or raining at the lake 6 of the 7 days I’ve been here and no sun predicted until Thursday. It’s tiresome. Both daughters/babies and Cynthia (not W but a friend of daughter 2 who is like a daughter) are all here so it’s sunshiny in a different way. No boys except the grandson. Daughter #2 is due with her daughter #2 in a month so it’ll be the last time I see her before she has the baby.
Good morning. 68 currently with highs in the 80s and partly cloudy. The mothership is covering the weekend news: the Israel-Iran conflict and the parade (military and “No Kings”) over the weekend. The FP headlines”: :Which Way will Trump break on Iran?” Noteworthy is that the mothership reported that Israel wanted to take out the head ayatollah, Khamenei, but Trump asked them not to.
Netanyahu should’ve ignored Trump about killing the Ayatollah. Bibi badly wants US bunker busting bombs and the plane capable of delivering them, so am sure that’s why he stood down at Trump’s request.
So amusing when Trump and Putin spoke last week when Trump then tells the press the Israel-Iran war must end, and Putin will mediate. Putin is where the Iranian leadership is taking refuge. Does Putin hypnotize Trump? Or just threaten to expose the postulated kompromat?
Trump is neither smart enough to be an intentional "asset" nor is susceptible to shame or embarrassment, no matter what Putin may have on him. Trump just admires dictators, including Putin, who plays him like a Stradivarius.
Despite the risk, I hope Trump delivers the B2s and the bunker busters to take out the buried Fordow centrifuge site, which otherwise can still make Iran a nuclear power. I would say that's worth allowing Khamenei to live.
End of an era today: I'm closing on the sale of my house on the mountain. Gonna move down into the town of Manchester. Sandra really felt isolated up here. Will split time between new place here and place we purchased in Florida. I will spend periods of the winter up here; I still need to ski. Now I will have a 20 min drive instead of a 2 min. drive. (That would be from Manchester to the mountain; Florida would be a considerably farther drive...)
Best wishes - congratulations and sympathies, as Cynthia said. I hope I am able to make such changes gracefully as time goes by. Having the right people to change with is important, I think!
It seems there are various versions out there. Some have verses that say she'll be wearing pink pajamas, sleeping with grandma, or killing the ol' red rooster. Probably best to leave it at the six white horses. 🙂
Those are popular in D.C. these days. Canadian Pacers, Irish Draft Horses, Friesians, not so much. And don't even think about introducing Rhinelanders or Lippizans to the story!
Last winter, I went to a ski hill in West Hubei near Enshi. Skiing is so brand new, it's comical. Imagine a ski hill where everyone is new to the sport, all gear is rental, and no one has ever skied before. It was actually a blast. Everyone had that blissed out "first run" look on their face while breathlessly jabbering at their ski mates about the rush.
Oh heck yeah... I didn't even gear up. The rental stuff was bottom end like you'd find at a bunny hill in the central Midwest that hasn't had any decent snow in a decade. It was fun to watch, though.
There was definitely good snow. They had elevation.
Bittersweet, I’m sure. How long have you lived there? I still can’t believe I’ve lived in the same house for 31 years, half my life, and no plans to move anytime soon.
I've had two different houses on the mountain for over 30 years. They were weekend homes where we spent almost every weekend in the winter and a good number in the summer. The last 6 years this house has been my full-time home. I know I won't be able to ski forever, but while I can, I will. Hence the house down the mountain in Manchester.
My parents live in their house for 55 years, until my father died. He moved into a nursing home his last year, but didn't sell the house. My niece moved in for her last year of college, Dad didn't charge her any rent, even added internet to his cable for her. He didn't care. Other than in really bad weather my Dad came by the house daily, to hang out with the next door neighbor, tinkering with stuff, or grabbing tools to go help someone.
You have skiing in New Hampshire. I'm curious if Florida offers seasonal activities you enjoy? Golf, biking, fishing? I'd take any and all of those. But then that is my problem - I have too many things that I like to do. I guess that's not such a problem.
You forgot 'gator golf! And alligator wrestling! Although, I think the latter might be fake. The Seminoles record against gators is better than the Harlem Globetrotters v the Washington Generals.
Yes, there is skiing in New Hampshire, but I have skied on this mountain for the past 30 years, I belong to a private club here, and it feels like home. My away mountain is Copper in Colorado, where I get together once a year with an old friend to ski there. Florida has lots of things I like---golf, hiking, nature walks. Sandra is really the mover behind this but we spent part of last winter there and I enjoyed it. And still got 30 days of skiing in.
Sounds like I misunderstood that your mountain was in NH? Thirty days is darn good. We live 30 minutes from Aspen/Snowmass and I'm usually only skiing about 12 days. We also do a good bit of XC - preferring the un-groomed routes on forest roads.
The year before I logged 50 days. You are very lucky to live in Colorado. Sandra didn't want to be that far from her kids and grandkids. Mine are on the west coast. I have never really gotten into XC, but may try it when my knees request it...
Good morning. Happy Monday to all. 73Fs at this hour, supposed to be 87 in the afternoon and probably thunderstorms. I have a meeting with a fitness adviser this morning, a meeting with my mom's financial planner this afternoon, and a shift of helping Spanish-speaking people register for Sunday School this evening while Dau D goes to youth Bible class.
More than half the children and teens enrolled are from Hispanic families, but the online registration form is English-only. Why? "Because the system ...".
"Structures of exclusion": we let "the system" make things even harder for the people who already have less ability to do things online.
My mom’s senior living made everyone do online payments. Half don’t have a computer anymore, the other half can’t see or don’t have a smart phone. The change came to them via email. 😵💫 As I am wont to do, I went to war with the 26 year old business manager/brainchild of the idea.
There are reasons for that, with a very big one being stolen checks. It's epidemic. Then, there's checks that are damaged, can't be read due to lousy handwriting, or other human mistakes that complicate the transaction. Then, there's simple bookkeeping and tax stuff; it makes record keeping much simpler.
In my operation, I insist in online payments. Old people have to get used to it. No opt outs.
It's not just old people. My special needs daughter gets services via Medicaid, and managing her access either online, on the phone or in person is arduous. For someone with limited means, perhaps limited intelligence who may or may not have, or know how to use, the Internet, even via smartphone, and has no relative or friend to assist, the push to online-only is shoddy customer service. That includes not just payments but any routine customer service interaction.
Insisting on online-only payments only makes sense if your customers are busnesses or institutional. (So perhaps my rant does not apply to you; I don't recall your business).
It’s all true or partially or not at all and none of it matters. There’s not enough “affordable” managed care facilities, it’s low margin, and supply demand trumps all. (People complain, with the largest percentage complaint being staff is stealing from tenants, even in camera’d facilities.) It’s ALL this way until one pays a lot of money.
Those complaining, start your own low cost facility. If it was easy, there wouldn’t be so many going bankrupt or otherwise juggling financials.
True. For me, “Affordable” in scare quotes is a euphemism for subsidized. No care facility is affordable by the simple metric of basic arithmetic and P&L statements. There’s a reason they mostly suck.
Oh I get it, but they sent the email out on the 15th with the new method to become effective on the 1st. They could have put a flyer in their cubby, offered to assist, etc. some of them don’t even have family nearby. That does not seem reasonable to me. They all eat in the same dining room, there could have been an announcement. It was handled poorly.
Of course it was handled poorly; it's a 26 year old and it's a managed care facility.
After that, I have some familiarity with managed living facilities and arrangements. It's always a mess because it's people's living arrangement and folks don't like their living arrangement to shift in any direction other than their predetermined expectation...which is always somewhere next to...or is... zero change, ever.
I'm not arguing in favor of poor management. I'm only describing that less than desirable management is the norm in managed living, and the places that ARE managed to the satisfaction of all involved are the really expensive places.
"Landlording" is something everyone should have a tiny bit of experience in. It changes perspectives. You're "controlling" where and how someone lives. The simple fact of the matter is everything upsets people.
I have a little bit of experience in that, having rented out an apartment I used to live in. I managed it myself until a tenant stiffed me on the rent and left, leaving behind a burn mark on the kitchen counter, characteristic of someone cooking cocaine. I later found out he also owed child support, so I was out of luck in collecting anything. After that I turned it over to a managing agent until I could sell it.
The landlord/tenant relationship is a difficult one. But I would have higher expectations when the landlord is a business instead of an individual.
My mom (89) lives in an independent cottage on a larger assisted living campus. They are quite nice and I would say upper-end compared to most. But my goodness do they complain about everything.
My mom is legally blind and an ostomy patient from colon cancer. I’m there A LOT. Hubs and I do what we can to help out but that crew will definitely drain you mentally dry. They see my car and the requests start coming in. It’s sad, really.
As I've said before, I am amazed at your patience at a church with many Hispanic members and an administration that seems to not like them. I know you push back at it, but I would be vexed beyond reason.
Every time I end up on another committee, I warn them that I'm an agitator with an attitude problem, and this is one of the ways.
Every organization has systemic weaknesses, and one of the ones of the Catholic Church is that the pastor of a parish is an unaccountable authority. In our case, the pastor is ill (leukemia) and has dementia, and the only thing he wants to do is say Mass and visit the sick. Everything else is, "Go away, you bother me." He wasn't always like this, or at least, not so much like this. He will be 70 next year and required to offer his retirement, which I hope the Bishop will accept.
Maybe he'll feel better when Father Redacted is gone - July 8 - even though there are rumors that he may not be completely gone. Although they're long-time "friends," it seems pretty abusive to me. As we were going into the church to play for the funeral on Friday, he met us, kind of lurking out of sight, and said, "I hope you know what music to do. Father Redacted is very particular." I said, "Yes, the office manager emailed the information to us earlier this week." "Okay, but make sure you know what you're supposed to do. He's very particular! I'm going uptown to visit someone in hospice."
And in his sermon yesterday, Father Redacted kind of admitted it when he "joked" that the pastor will be dancing for joy on July 8, when Redacted is retired. We're getting a new priest as assistant: he was ordained on Saturday. We wonder whether he will be a neo-medievalist, or normal.
We live in a small community, about 8000 people. We also just learned we are losing our deacon as he is moving somewhere else for work. As with so many things, I had not thought much about the good fortune to have a deacon, but now I'm wondering where in the world we might find a replacement. The cost of living here is terribly difficult now, with little work that pays enough.
The pastor is OK, well meaning, if a little uninspiring. He is from Mexico and his english is serviceable but probably limits his preaching somewhat. So the deacon's participation has been a valuable part of the team. We will miss him.
Don't be fooled by partisan and meretricious headlines. The Bishop is one of the good guys, but he has a lot on his plate, and it's not like there are a lot of spare priests sitting in the dugout waiting to be called on.
Yeesh, and to think all I do is nix things like a climbing wall in the youth ministry. “Sounds fun, but the extra liability insurance is too high” so they went with human bumper balls.
Good afternoon--er, evening I guess. This morning I had to do some detailed research I promised someone I'd do. By the time I got done with that and a couple of other things, it was time to go to the farmer's market, the first one I've been to this season. Just a short bus ride away--I must have spent longer waiting for the bus each way than riding it. But it would be too time consuming and rough on my knees to walk there and back.
The market is in the parking lot of the former armory which is now a great big park district facility. Lots of vendors, and this early in the season the majority of booths are selling stuff other than fresh produce, though I'm sure it's very nice. However, I scored a nice vine-ripened tomato, box of strawberries that look and smell very real and juicy, some baby red potatoes (I like to use the mini ones for potato salad), a bunch of dill (until the crop I'm starting matures), and a nice head of red leaf lettuce. I don't know exactly where they grew this stuff but it was definitely closer than California. Possibly some of it is grown hydroponically not very far from the city. It was nice to get out and about and see other people strolling around in the sunshine doing the same thing.
I ran across an interesting news tidbit that relates to the G7 thing happening in Canada. If you follow the link to the AP story, you'll see a good example of how a thoughtful and responsible human being makes a decision when confronted with the possibility of a confrontation that he did not want to have. Even better are the words he used to explain his decision and how he went about it. If only he'd been born in the U.S., we could think about electing him president! Please note that though the headline mentions rage, the "buried lede" is that rather than go with the rage, he let his "better angels" direct him in a more positive path. It doesn't matter much whether his words had any effect on Trump, but what an example for everyone else.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-g7-first-nation-crowchild-rage-canada-a0af79321cd4b4f4b6d2a66319206137
- - - - - -
Copyediting note: The story includes a use of peoples' with the apostrophe after the s, but a close reading showed me that there are three of the "First Nations" and he was apparently representing other tribes in addition to his own, so the plural possessive is correct. Elsewhere in the story the word people's is also used correctly
Over at Tooze...an interesting map of lightning strikes in the continental US. It looks like the triangle of Austin, Waco, and Houston get thousands more strikes than anywhere else, with mid-South Florida along the west side coming in second. Third is a hazy area around Arkansas and Oklahoma including parts of the TX panhandle.
Any Texans in here...take cover.
Tooze?
Adam Tooze Chartbook. Check him out, always interesting.
Gesundheit!
It’s been cloudy or raining at the lake 6 of the 7 days I’ve been here and no sun predicted until Thursday. It’s tiresome. Both daughters/babies and Cynthia (not W but a friend of daughter 2 who is like a daughter) are all here so it’s sunshiny in a different way. No boys except the grandson. Daughter #2 is due with her daughter #2 in a month so it’ll be the last time I see her before she has the baby.
I hope Daughter 2 is having a restful visit, if not a sunny one.
Good morning. 68 currently with highs in the 80s and partly cloudy. The mothership is covering the weekend news: the Israel-Iran conflict and the parade (military and “No Kings”) over the weekend. The FP headlines”: :Which Way will Trump break on Iran?” Noteworthy is that the mothership reported that Israel wanted to take out the head ayatollah, Khamenei, but Trump asked them not to.
Netanyahu should’ve ignored Trump about killing the Ayatollah. Bibi badly wants US bunker busting bombs and the plane capable of delivering them, so am sure that’s why he stood down at Trump’s request.
So amusing when Trump and Putin spoke last week when Trump then tells the press the Israel-Iran war must end, and Putin will mediate. Putin is where the Iranian leadership is taking refuge. Does Putin hypnotize Trump? Or just threaten to expose the postulated kompromat?
Trump is neither smart enough to be an intentional "asset" nor is susceptible to shame or embarrassment, no matter what Putin may have on him. Trump just admires dictators, including Putin, who plays him like a Stradivarius.
Despite the risk, I hope Trump delivers the B2s and the bunker busters to take out the buried Fordow centrifuge site, which otherwise can still make Iran a nuclear power. I would say that's worth allowing Khamenei to live.
How can Trump "make a deal" if the other head of state is dead?
Good point.
Seance?
End of an era today: I'm closing on the sale of my house on the mountain. Gonna move down into the town of Manchester. Sandra really felt isolated up here. Will split time between new place here and place we purchased in Florida. I will spend periods of the winter up here; I still need to ski. Now I will have a 20 min drive instead of a 2 min. drive. (That would be from Manchester to the mountain; Florida would be a considerably farther drive...)
Best wishes - congratulations and sympathies, as Cynthia said. I hope I am able to make such changes gracefully as time goes by. Having the right people to change with is important, I think!
Thanks, Lucy. You are absolutely correct about the last part.
Will you be riding six white horses when you come down the mountain?
That's coming 'round the mountain, not down it ;-)
Round, Down, it's all about the destination.
I suppose next you're going to tell me there won't be any chicken' and dumplings!
I am ashamed to say I was not familiar with the chicken and dumplings vs. Let there always be chicken and dumplings- or chicken and pastry.
It seems there are various versions out there. Some have verses that say she'll be wearing pink pajamas, sleeping with grandma, or killing the ol' red rooster. Probably best to leave it at the six white horses. 🙂
The old red rooster becomes the chicken in the chicken and dumplings. I never heard any of the weird verses.
So we don't get chicken and dumplings? ;)
See my reply to John F.
5 Kristi Noem got one.
At least they're white, so Stephen Miller won't have to get involved.
Yes, but what if they are Arabian horses?
Those are popular in D.C. these days. Canadian Pacers, Irish Draft Horses, Friesians, not so much. And don't even think about introducing Rhinelanders or Lippizans to the story!
Last winter, I went to a ski hill in West Hubei near Enshi. Skiing is so brand new, it's comical. Imagine a ski hill where everyone is new to the sport, all gear is rental, and no one has ever skied before. It was actually a blast. Everyone had that blissed out "first run" look on their face while breathlessly jabbering at their ski mates about the rush.
I’m sure, though I generally try and stay away from first time skiers…
Oh heck yeah... I didn't even gear up. The rental stuff was bottom end like you'd find at a bunny hill in the central Midwest that hasn't had any decent snow in a decade. It was fun to watch, though.
There was definitely good snow. They had elevation.
Are you still in China? I haven't been around for a while so I don't know if your move was permanent.
Been back in Evanston for exactly 2 weeks. Taking care of biz. Going back in early Autumn. Enjoying both places,
How long will you stay this time?
So your realty plans are going downhill? 😢
Careful, comments like that can lead to a slippery slope!
I see Jay is indeed going downhill again -- 🚪
Phil! Need an assist here!
Bittersweet, I’m sure. How long have you lived there? I still can’t believe I’ve lived in the same house for 31 years, half my life, and no plans to move anytime soon.
I've had two different houses on the mountain for over 30 years. They were weekend homes where we spent almost every weekend in the winter and a good number in the summer. The last 6 years this house has been my full-time home. I know I won't be able to ski forever, but while I can, I will. Hence the house down the mountain in Manchester.
We've lived in our house for 21 years. We'll probably move in the 5 to 10 years time frame, once all the youth are over 18.
My parents live in their house for 55 years, until my father died. He moved into a nursing home his last year, but didn't sell the house. My niece moved in for her last year of college, Dad didn't charge her any rent, even added internet to his cable for her. He didn't care. Other than in really bad weather my Dad came by the house daily, to hang out with the next door neighbor, tinkering with stuff, or grabbing tools to go help someone.
So you’re comin’ down the mountain, eh?
> Some will die in hot pursuit in fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit while sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche comin' down the mountain <
https://youtu.be/KRXty8lDUW0?si=Dr2_FnQOc7ixvQEq
https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Butthole-Surfers/Pepper
Congratulations and sympathies at the same time. I hope both houses work out well for you.
Thanks. I should also say that we will spend the summer and fall up here. I certainly don't want to be in Florida then.
You have skiing in New Hampshire. I'm curious if Florida offers seasonal activities you enjoy? Golf, biking, fishing? I'd take any and all of those. But then that is my problem - I have too many things that I like to do. I guess that's not such a problem.
You forgot 'gator golf! And alligator wrestling! Although, I think the latter might be fake. The Seminoles record against gators is better than the Harlem Globetrotters v the Washington Generals.
Yes, there is skiing in New Hampshire, but I have skied on this mountain for the past 30 years, I belong to a private club here, and it feels like home. My away mountain is Copper in Colorado, where I get together once a year with an old friend to ski there. Florida has lots of things I like---golf, hiking, nature walks. Sandra is really the mover behind this but we spent part of last winter there and I enjoyed it. And still got 30 days of skiing in.
Speaking of Copper Mountain... @BikerChick would enjoy the Copper Triangle bike ride.
https://www.theridecollective.com/coppertriangle
Sounds like I misunderstood that your mountain was in NH? Thirty days is darn good. We live 30 minutes from Aspen/Snowmass and I'm usually only skiing about 12 days. We also do a good bit of XC - preferring the un-groomed routes on forest roads.
The year before I logged 50 days. You are very lucky to live in Colorado. Sandra didn't want to be that far from her kids and grandkids. Mine are on the west coast. I have never really gotten into XC, but may try it when my knees request it...
Hopefully you’ve received Dave Barry’s tips:
> Over the years I've written a lot about hurricane preparation. For the benefit of you new residents, I'll excerpt some of the key points here:
YOUR HURRICANE PREPARATION PLAN
If a major hurricane is approaching, you should follow this three-step plan:
1. Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days.
2. Put these supplies and your family into your car.
3. Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween.<
https://davebarry.substack.com/p/the-news-from-florida
Love Dave Barry
I figured that was the plan. Not much skiing in the summer upnorth.
Good morning. Happy Monday to all. 73Fs at this hour, supposed to be 87 in the afternoon and probably thunderstorms. I have a meeting with a fitness adviser this morning, a meeting with my mom's financial planner this afternoon, and a shift of helping Spanish-speaking people register for Sunday School this evening while Dau D goes to youth Bible class.
More than half the children and teens enrolled are from Hispanic families, but the online registration form is English-only. Why? "Because the system ...".
"Structures of exclusion": we let "the system" make things even harder for the people who already have less ability to do things online.
My mom’s senior living made everyone do online payments. Half don’t have a computer anymore, the other half can’t see or don’t have a smart phone. The change came to them via email. 😵💫 As I am wont to do, I went to war with the 26 year old business manager/brainchild of the idea.
There are reasons for that, with a very big one being stolen checks. It's epidemic. Then, there's checks that are damaged, can't be read due to lousy handwriting, or other human mistakes that complicate the transaction. Then, there's simple bookkeeping and tax stuff; it makes record keeping much simpler.
In my operation, I insist in online payments. Old people have to get used to it. No opt outs.
It's not just old people. My special needs daughter gets services via Medicaid, and managing her access either online, on the phone or in person is arduous. For someone with limited means, perhaps limited intelligence who may or may not have, or know how to use, the Internet, even via smartphone, and has no relative or friend to assist, the push to online-only is shoddy customer service. That includes not just payments but any routine customer service interaction.
Insisting on online-only payments only makes sense if your customers are busnesses or institutional. (So perhaps my rant does not apply to you; I don't recall your business).
It’s all true or partially or not at all and none of it matters. There’s not enough “affordable” managed care facilities, it’s low margin, and supply demand trumps all. (People complain, with the largest percentage complaint being staff is stealing from tenants, even in camera’d facilities.) It’s ALL this way until one pays a lot of money.
Those complaining, start your own low cost facility. If it was easy, there wouldn’t be so many going bankrupt or otherwise juggling financials.
I wouldn't call any of them "affordable" including the one (which seemed pretty god) where my mother spent her last years.
True. For me, “Affordable” in scare quotes is a euphemism for subsidized. No care facility is affordable by the simple metric of basic arithmetic and P&L statements. There’s a reason they mostly suck.
Oh I get it, but they sent the email out on the 15th with the new method to become effective on the 1st. They could have put a flyer in their cubby, offered to assist, etc. some of them don’t even have family nearby. That does not seem reasonable to me. They all eat in the same dining room, there could have been an announcement. It was handled poorly.
Of course it was handled poorly; it's a 26 year old and it's a managed care facility.
After that, I have some familiarity with managed living facilities and arrangements. It's always a mess because it's people's living arrangement and folks don't like their living arrangement to shift in any direction other than their predetermined expectation...which is always somewhere next to...or is... zero change, ever.
I'm not arguing in favor of poor management. I'm only describing that less than desirable management is the norm in managed living, and the places that ARE managed to the satisfaction of all involved are the really expensive places.
"Landlording" is something everyone should have a tiny bit of experience in. It changes perspectives. You're "controlling" where and how someone lives. The simple fact of the matter is everything upsets people.
I have a little bit of experience in that, having rented out an apartment I used to live in. I managed it myself until a tenant stiffed me on the rent and left, leaving behind a burn mark on the kitchen counter, characteristic of someone cooking cocaine. I later found out he also owed child support, so I was out of luck in collecting anything. After that I turned it over to a managing agent until I could sell it.
The landlord/tenant relationship is a difficult one. But I would have higher expectations when the landlord is a business instead of an individual.
That would be a misguided mistake, no offense. Personally, after a career in the gig, I maintain low expectations.
My mom (89) lives in an independent cottage on a larger assisted living campus. They are quite nice and I would say upper-end compared to most. But my goodness do they complain about everything.
My mom is legally blind and an ostomy patient from colon cancer. I’m there A LOT. Hubs and I do what we can to help out but that crew will definitely drain you mentally dry. They see my car and the requests start coming in. It’s sad, really.
They did something similar when they changed the entrance security at my mom's building a few years ago.
As I've said before, I am amazed at your patience at a church with many Hispanic members and an administration that seems to not like them. I know you push back at it, but I would be vexed beyond reason.
Every time I end up on another committee, I warn them that I'm an agitator with an attitude problem, and this is one of the ways.
Every organization has systemic weaknesses, and one of the ones of the Catholic Church is that the pastor of a parish is an unaccountable authority. In our case, the pastor is ill (leukemia) and has dementia, and the only thing he wants to do is say Mass and visit the sick. Everything else is, "Go away, you bother me." He wasn't always like this, or at least, not so much like this. He will be 70 next year and required to offer his retirement, which I hope the Bishop will accept.
Maybe he'll feel better when Father Redacted is gone - July 8 - even though there are rumors that he may not be completely gone. Although they're long-time "friends," it seems pretty abusive to me. As we were going into the church to play for the funeral on Friday, he met us, kind of lurking out of sight, and said, "I hope you know what music to do. Father Redacted is very particular." I said, "Yes, the office manager emailed the information to us earlier this week." "Okay, but make sure you know what you're supposed to do. He's very particular! I'm going uptown to visit someone in hospice."
And in his sermon yesterday, Father Redacted kind of admitted it when he "joked" that the pastor will be dancing for joy on July 8, when Redacted is retired. We're getting a new priest as assistant: he was ordained on Saturday. We wonder whether he will be a neo-medievalist, or normal.
We live in a small community, about 8000 people. We also just learned we are losing our deacon as he is moving somewhere else for work. As with so many things, I had not thought much about the good fortune to have a deacon, but now I'm wondering where in the world we might find a replacement. The cost of living here is terribly difficult now, with little work that pays enough.
The pastor is OK, well meaning, if a little uninspiring. He is from Mexico and his english is serviceable but probably limits his preaching somewhat. So the deacon's participation has been a valuable part of the team. We will miss him.
Our new priest is not Hispanic, but we hope he's been taught at least basic Spanish.
Of course, your pastor is accountable — to your bishop. (Ooops, that may not work out, given the headlines about your bishop).
Don't be fooled by partisan and meretricious headlines. The Bishop is one of the good guys, but he has a lot on his plate, and it's not like there are a lot of spare priests sitting in the dugout waiting to be called on.
On the one hand, no doubt vocations are as much an issue in your diocese as they are in much of the country right now.
OTOH, your bishop's actions regarding the TLM (could we call that ill-timed?) seem of his own making, increasing what's "on his plate".
Don't fall for meretricious partisan journalism.
Yeesh, and to think all I do is nix things like a climbing wall in the youth ministry. “Sounds fun, but the extra liability insurance is too high” so they went with human bumper balls.
We get things like, "We can't host an interfaith luncheon because of the insurance," which is nonsense.
Really? That does seem extreme. Our insurance co thought high wall activities and teenagers were a bad combo. Interfaith luncheon? That’s plain weird.
It was nonsense, just the default "Nuh-uh." It's even a potluck luncheon, so all we'd have to do is set up tables and make some tea.
Oy.