Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Precautions For Staying Safe



Aging in place is the trend now for us older adults. And why shouldn't it be? Getting to a certain age and then being told you have to do this or do that is not something to look forward to. Thankfully, I have an apartment I can do that in. I was not able to do that in my previous home. It was impossible. Even though back then I could walk better than I can now. A house can be set up for aging if you get to work on it before you need it. In my opinion, all houses should be built that way no matter what the owner's age is. The last few years of living in my house I had to sleep downstairs in the living room. First on a couch and then finally when I could afford it, I bought a single bed. I hated sleeping in the living room because I had no privacy. 




I feel safe here even though it is downtown and there are homeless people, druggie people and bullies here as well. No matter where you live they will always be present as well. I take safety precautions constantly and am always aware of my surroundings. It may sound like I am not friendly but I discourage strangers coming up to me when I am out. One guy who hangs out at the grocery store would come up to me when I am in my mobility chair  and grab my hand. I do not like that and I have avoided him and if I do run into him I do not talk to him or respond to him. Now he leaves me alone. He may very well be harmless but I do not like strangers touch me even if it is just my hand. Who knows where that hand has been? Or who else he has touched? Spreading germs from person to person. 




I do not carry a purse when I go out on my mobility chair or walker. I don't carry cash unless it is just a few dollars. Normally I carry a debit card and use that for any purchases I am making. I recently changed from a large wallet to one that is small enough to fit in my hand. I conceal it in the seat of my walker which is safer than having it on me unless my walker is stolen. In all my time living here, I have never had a problem with anyone. In fact nobody has ever approached me to ask for money. There are many different products I found on Amazon that are made for protecting yourself when you are out. A senior or disabled citizen is an easy target for someone to rob you. I always study any person near me so that I am aware of what they are doing. Especially if they seem interested in me or what I am dong.




Keeping my apartment locked even if I am just going downstairs to get my mail or going across the hall to speak to a neighbor. A stranger can get into our building by visiting someone they know who lives here. That is always a possibility. The best thing I can do is to always be aware of others on my hall or in one of the public areas. Public areas are always watched by the video cameras through out our building. Another thing I do is to limit who I let into my apartment. A number of them have wanted to come in to see "Rabbit" but I still limit that until I know them better. I don't mean to sound paranoid but I lived a long time with barely any interaction with others. After moving here, I was cautious and remain so today. 






Copyright © 2024 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2024  Kathleen G. Lupole




Thursday, February 22, 2024

Appreciation For Nature Is Close To My Heart

Forest Path

Is it in a human's nature to not love the natural look of things? That they have a need to change it? For instance, yards, trees, wild plants, flowers, rocks and wild critters? To cut down trees, remove the rocks, kill the wild plants and critters? Make it into a lawn then complain about cutting the grass all season. Having to fix or repair the lawn mower or buy a bigger one and pollute your area with noise and fumes? They seem to have the need to build a garage to house all their equipment for keeping nature from taking over. They really get excited about the mower or the garage or work shed but not about the first dandelion showing up on their lawn.


Cutting Grass

Now I understand the need for cutting the grass because fleas and ticks live in that uncut grass. So if you have cats or dogs you need to protect them by cutting the grass. It does not have to be done by the latest or most powerful lawnmower you can buy. I worked for a man once who blacktopped his whole front yard in a city house. It was so ugly! I admit lawns look nice but do they really need to be so large? An area of wild plants and flowers is actually prettier to me. 

One More Tree Down.........

Does every single tree need to be removed from the yard? Especially if a house is in the middle of the forest? If you do not like trees do not choose to live in the forest. Instead people will buy a house in the forest and then spend their life trying to make it look like a city house. Why spend time working in the yard for years, trying to change the natural beauty of the forest around the house, so it loses its connection to the forest?


Roads through out the forest


I am a woman who loves the forest and the wild plants that grow naturally. Not planted by anyone. Others will see a dandelion and think it is a weed. I see a dandelion and see it in its beauty an edible medicinal plant. There is a reason that wild plants will resist pests that kill garden plants. They will resist the strongest weed killers. Yet those same  chemicals could kill you in the end. I prided myself on not using chemicals of any kind in my garden beds. I could eat a vegetable right in the garden. No need to worry about the chemicals like you do when buying from the store. 


One of my favorites........dandelions!

Now of course, I live downtown in a small city. No forest but I do have trees around me. I am within walking distance of four city parks. Most of the time I am the only person in the park. I sit out there and just watch the birds and squirrels and the occasional person walking through the park. I enjoy it but I do miss being in the forest. I have my memories though and lots of photos. I look at them and remember the times being out in the forest. 



Copyright © 2024 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2024  Kathleen G. Lupole



Monday, February 12, 2024

Appreciating Quiet Even When Living Downtown

Living in downtown apartments are not always quiet


I hate the sound of loud noises. Wondering if it has anything to do with my age. I will be 72 in a few months though I don't believe I have any hearing issues. My apartment is very quiet and I appreciate the silence. Music I do not consider noise. I listen to music daily but not loud blaring music. Sometimes I think people like to play it loud so everyone can hear it. Even the people who do not like it. In fact, I find I appreciate it more at the level I listen to. I always pause it when someone comes to my door or calls me on the phone. I don't want to miss my songs!


Intercom in my apartment


In my apartment building we have an intercom system. The doors at the entrance opening into the lobby are locked at all times. To enter there is an intercom on the wall and you have to buzz the apartment you are visiting. It will buzz in that apartment and the resident will push a button to ask who it is. Then they push a button to listen to your answer. Once they are satisfied that it is someone they are expecting or know, they push the button to unlock the door and you can enter the building. It is a very good system and I like it. But......when the intercom buzzes in the apartment..........it is VERY loud! Rabbit and I jump every time. Even when I know someone is coming here. 


Across the street from my apartment


Quietness was one of the things I treasured when living at Peaceful Forest, my former home. Especially in winter. It was very quiet all year long. That is unless a chainsaw was buzzing a tree down or the generator was running when there was not much sun. I remember listening to my horses chewing their hay and that was the only sound I could hear. Or the chickadees and blue jays during the winter which were welcome sounds to me. You quickly acclimate to your environment and grow accustom to the sounds of daily life. Even though I badly missed the sounds of the birds in the forest I had to move on. To my new life and sounds. The only birds I hear now in a downtown location are crows. Every now and then other birds will show up but they do not sound as happy as the birds in the forest. 


Downtown


City life is full of noises. Trucks backing up to loading docks in early morning hours. Garbage trucks pulling up to the dumpster at my building. I get up early so it doesn't really bother me so much. Sirens at any time of the day or night. Fire trucks, emergency vehicles and police. Bars. The back of the bars on South Broad Street, the main street of my city, face my apartment building. So when they have loud music playing, especially live bands or musicians I can hear it in my apartment. I don't mind that either because it is usually good music. My building also has a theater in it and many times I can feel the beat of the music since it is right here. That doesn't bother me one bit because I love having a theater in the same building I live in. It is not a movie theater. It is a theater for live shows and concerts among other forms of entertainment.


Looking out the door of my apartment


I got used to it. Even though I do prefer quiet, there are times when the sounds of others reassures me that I am not alone. At times I will walk out of my apartment and go to different floors and not see one other person. Then on other days I hear people talking in the hall outside my door as they wait for the elevator. Doors slamming, people laughing, a dog barking, a mobility scooter horn beeping, etc. I go downstairs to get my mail and a group of people are sitting in the lobby talking and laughing. It is nice to have friends in person which I didn't before moving here. I feel I am living alone but am not alone. Anytime I need time with friends I have many to choose from. 



Copyright © 2024 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2024  Kathleen G. Lupole

Sunday, December 31, 2023

End of the Year Thoughts and Challenges



New Year's Eve is here! It is a time for figuring out where I am in this life of mine. It is a time consuming thought process. I spend time reading and researching online how I am supposed to feel or live at my age now. Honestly, I don't feel old even though I have trouble walking due to both of my knees. It has been a long road for me from living a modern homesteading life to where I am now. Yes, there are days I miss it and my horses and especially my cats. I had to accept it and move on. There are things I was expecting when moving here that did not work out the way I pictured. Yet life goes on and I have to accept it or just give up. Giving up is not something I can do. I still have a bunny rabbit and a disabled son to worry about and live for. I am living by my newest motto which is "Never too late". 




When you finally have the time to work on yourself things start to change in your life. I am sure if I didn't have so many things to do, my day to day life would drag on. Instead the days go by so fast I say, "Hey hold on day, I have more things to do!" I can easily get caught up in one project for hours and not get anything else done. It doesn't really matter since I now have the time. There are certain things that must be done at certain times and that is of course, household or pet related chores. Simple household chores take me longer than when I was younger. I accept that fact and just do them. I tried to have an aide assist me but that didn't work out. Besides I believe it is good for me to do these physical chores myself while I can. I take many breaks.




One mistake I was making was searching for "home decor for senior citizens" or "single senior women's lifestyles". Why should it matter how old I am or whether I am single or a woman?  I am a person and if a young person's style appeals to me that is all that should matter. I have changed my way of thinking since then. My home decor style has changed over the years but not due to my age or the fact that I am now single. One thing that stays constant with me is colors. I will always love bright colors. The only reason my age figures into my home design is because I use a walker. So I need room for it getting from place to place. My mobility chair is kept in the bathroom so I don't use that throughout my whole apartment. Just from the bathroom to the door. 




Learning new things is another activity in my life that keeps me going forward instead of just breathing. As I figure out the turns my life takes on I almost always learn something new. I have always loved to cook and even though I am alone here I still like to create recipes of my own. Since I follow the keto lifestyle, I like to get recipes out of my old cookbooks and change the ingredients to keto (low carbs, higher fat). The other new thing I am working on and believe me,,,,,,,,,,,,it taxis my brain! The Linux operating system in my computers. I was thinking of taking a course in it but have found some good YouTube videos on it. When I am working on that I cannot be interrupted at all. I turn the sign on my door to out. 




One thing I have learned is to not think of myself as old. I am older, yes. But there are many more people who are a lot older than me. Knowing people of all ages will show you that your age does not define who you are. So I accept that and live for today and will worry about tomorrow when it gets here. I wish you all a very Happy New Year! 




Copyright © 2023 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2023  Kathleen G. Lupole

Friday, December 01, 2023

The Keto Lifestyle Is the Good Health Diet

Keto products I use regularly

How did I transition from the standard American diet (SAD) to a Keto lifestyle? It was not overnight and it was definitely not easy. I started eating low carbs many years ago but would stop and start again and again. I did not feel good when off it and I knew this. Yet something kept me eating those foods I knew I should not be eating.......pizza, ice cream, potato chips, chocolate candy and Whoppers with the bun and french fries (oh, how I loved those french fries!). What was it about those foods that made me not able to pass them by? I would blame it on whoever I was with. Especially when eating in restaurants. I knew what to order when I walked in the door. Yet when the waitress came to take the order I would hear myself ordering a completely different meal! I'd hate myself later that night. 


Fast food is not an option for me!

It is true though that your family and friends really do not want you to eat differently from them. I find that is true about many other things in life besides what foods you choose to eat. Everyone tries to get their family and friends to do what they do whether you like it or not. Somehow you have to get yourself beyond that. Even now, I am 99% living my keto lifestyle, but that 1%? Sometimes I slip off. Do I hate myself later? Not anymore. Because I am not perfect nor will I ever be perfect. I just go on as if it never happened. Living by myself makes it easier for me to eat the way I want. No influences or temptations from someone else. It is the rare person who will give up their favorite foods for someone else. Yet they expect you to give up your health and well being for them. 

My keto kitchen!

I don't call myself by any specific diet other than the keto lifestyle. There are many names for it....low carb, Atkins, Ketogenic, keto, ketovore, carnivore, lion diet, etc. It all boils down to protein, fat and low carbs. The Proper Human Diet. I no longer count calories. I don't care what they are. Some days I don't eat as much as other days. It all evens out over time. I do use a tracker. Cronometer. Just to have a record of what I ate each day. I don't care anymore about keeping track of protein or fat since usually I eat over 100 grams of each. So the days I don't get the 100 grams I am okay with that too. Another thing I don't do is to weight myself. I threw my scale out in the dumpster. A scale is really a useless tool that many people have an obsession with. A better measurement is your clothing. Save some clothing in smaller sizes and try them on at different intervals. Not daily! 

My go to dessert is Keto Chow Ice Cream!

When people say to me that keto didn't work for them. I know what they aren't saying. That is that they did not want to give it a chance to work. They wanted it to be easy and magically heal them and take their weight off in an instant. It does not work that way. Maybe it didn't work because every night they made a dessert......a keto dessert is still a dessert. Maybe they took those cheat days everyone is always talking about. Perhaps their friend took cheat days and still lost weight but they did not. Their body is not the same as their friend's body. We are all unique human beings.


Pizza Bowl Keto Style

For me, over time I have been tweaking the keto lifestyle for myself. I don't follow what anyone says. I might try something that I hear about and test it on myself. I don't take challenges anymore either. I just keep finding new recipes and working on them to fit my taste. Keto meals can and do taste good. But you have to cook! Luckily it is something I love to do. So I will continue to live the keto lifestyle. One thing I want to remind others of is that this way of eating is not meant for weight loss. It is meant for health and weight loss is just a by product of that. 




Copyright © 2023 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2023  Kathleen G. Lupole

Monday, October 02, 2023

Living In Norwich, NY

Norwich, NY

When choosing where to move when I left my homestead I chose the small city of Norwich (NY) because I was familiar with it. It is more like a small town than a city but everyone refers to it as a city and it is the county seat. My apartment building is centrally located so I knew if I lived there I could get to stores, library, restaurants, movie theater and the county office building without a car. I knew I did not want the expense or headache of owning one. It has a county bus system and one of its stops is right at my building. There are a couple of taxi services as well. So having that in mind when I moved really helped me choose this apartment building. I wanted to have as much independence as possible. 

Norwich Senior Housing

Even though the apartment building I live in is called senior living (which includes disabled people of all ages as well), it is not the same as assisted living. Sometimes I think the people living here want it to be that way. No, you are renting an apartment just like any other apartment building. It is subsidized which the amount you pay for rent is based on your income. There is also assistance available for utilities and food but you have to apply for those yourself. It has nothing to do with the building. Lately they have rented apartments to disabled people who break rules because they cannot read the notices or understand them. Makes me think this was really not a good choice for them or they need a little assistance getting settled in. Sometimes such a person is embarrassed to admit they can't read or understand something so it is hard to offer help to them. 



Living here gives me the choice to do what I want when I want. I don't have to take part in any activities if I choose not to. Though the activities in our building came to a halt back in 2020. Occasionally we have Bingo but not on a regular basis. I have always been an introvert so spending my time alone is what I like to do. I am always busy with something and I never have that feeling of loneliness. I admit to spending a good share of time on the computer but have been making an effort to get outside more often. Especially while we have nice weather. Some other senior apartment buildings around here offer many more activities to their tenants. I believe that is due to their management company being more interested in their renters than our management is. I would be thankful if they would just keep our elevator running and replace the washing machines and dryers in the laundry room.




I watch decorating shows on YouTube constantly and love making changes in my apartment. Since the tiny house movement started some years back there are a lot of new options for anyone choosing to live small. Some of the tiny houses are smaller than my 338 square foot studio apartment. I love open floor plans and that is what I have here. It was perfect for me and my house bunny, Rabbit. Even though it is a small studio apartment, it has a kitchen for a serious cook. That was important to me and I use it daily. The bathroom is quite large for a studio also. I have room to keep my mobility chair in it. So I really have no complaints and work hard to make my apartment a home, not just a place to sleep and eat. 


Peaceful Forest Homestead

Yes, I never dreamed I would be forced to leave my homesteading life. There were so many factors that forced that decision and I am sure I have mentioned them on previous blogs. Debt was one of them. Also the decline I was having in my ability to walk made me dread being immobilized and living without running water among other things. I never felt secure there. Now I do. I was thrilled to move here a little over five years ago and I still am. 



Copyright © 2023 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2023  Kathleen G. Lupole