GHOSTS, GOBLINS & SPELLS -- MULTI-VIRUSES

 REPUBLIC -- "If you can keep it."  [Democracy]

      Accountability for Jan. 6 insurrection.

U.S. Select House Committee on Jan. 6th Hearings

QUESTION:  What action will occur now since the 45th President, DJT, has not appeared or provided documents as subpoenaed to testify under oath telling the truth before the U.S. Select House Committee on Jan. 6th Hearings?

HALLOWEEN will come and go this week, then preparations will begin for the holidays yet to come.  There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for resuming these and other celebrations in  groups, many composed of lots of family and friends.  This is quite a change from recent years when Covid kept everyone apart.  Of course, in terms of becoming ill, we seem to be far from out of the woods since Covid hasn't left us.  Also, a couple of other viruses have returned to possibly disrupt our lives more than usual.  All of us are urged to get our vaccinations up to date.

Reportedly our annual flu is a bit more virulent this year with the highest number of cases in more than a decade, presently mostly in the south though medical professionals caution it's early in the season.   Obtaining the annual flu shot now is highly recommended. 

Then, there is the common RSV -- respiratory syncytial virus that infects the lungs and breathing passages which has become of particular concern -- presently a very high incidence in our young children in some areas of our country.    

A review of various medical reports about RSV in older people summarized in a Google search reports increasing hospitalizations and death possible:  "Older adults are at greater risk than young adults for serious complications from RSV because our immune systems weaken when we are older".  

Wearing masks or not for all these viruses is each individual's decision based on their judgement about different situations.  Masks are required to be worn in some settings by various businesses of their employees and customers.  I'll soon receive my flu shot with my next doctor's appointment, then the final Covid vaccine as I continue to mask and will afterward.  

I certainly hope this year's holidays do not become virus spreading occasions for many ruining their holidays to say the least.  

Halloween has changed considerably since my youth when it was celebrated mostly by just young children.  Older teens perceived they had outgrown this activity.  We youngsters went door-to-door on what was called Beggar's Night.  No more did some older children go out to "trick" the households the next night who hadn't given a treat on Beggar's Night.   The holiday had seemed to evolve to a one night event that has since become known as Trick or Treat Night.  

Older children and even adults in subsequent years have increasingly begun to celebrate Halloween with group parties and wearing costumes.   Costumes when I was young were mostly of the home-made variety.   A simple mask just covering the eyes was typically worn with or without any other costume.  Some few ready-made costumes were beginning to become available for purchase at our five-and-dime stores like Woolworth's and Kresge's in my town, but this was an expense most families like mine didn't incur.  Part of the fun of Halloween was concocting our own costume -- simple and basic like a sheet to be a ghost progressing to more elaborate creations for others.  

Decades later when my children were young there were numerous other youngsters in our neighborhood, too.  They all soon reached an age when they went out in a group without their parents.  The marketing of ready-made Halloween costumes was increasingly becoming big business and has continued to be so.   Many children with their parents came to our door for treats with the littlest ones coming early, usually just at dusk, to show off their costumes.

After dark when the older school-age children started arriving they encountered more than treats at our house.  I had recorded eerie Halloween music and sounds such as wolves howling, chains rattling, squeaky doors, squealing creature sounds, owls hooting, high-pitched and low growling, grumbling human sounds emitted from behind our darkened garage door as the children walked cautiously and slowly up the driveway to our front door.  Some children exhibited more bravado than others.

A couple years, a father on another street dressed in a lifelike gorilla costume, roamed the streets later in the evening when only the older kids were out and about to give them some unexpected thrills.  He would suddenly appear out of the shadows to startle, even momentarily frighten these unsuspecting Halloweeners.  

We never experienced any vandalism except one year, later in the evening, when some older kids driven from other communities were dropped off on our street we think.  One of the pumpkins our children had carved that we had placed near our front door, bore evidence of a destructive busting kick we discovered the following morning.

One year I extracted the pulp from a pumpkin which I processed to use for baking my usual pumpkin pies.  I determined the pumpkin wasn't any better as I had thought it might be than the canned pumpkin I usually used.   Preparing the fresh pumpkin didn't seem worth the time and effort to me for my pies in future years.   

After our children were grown, fewer and fewer children were visiting our neighborhood on halloween.   A family with young children finally moved here but their parents had them celebrate Halloween with friends in private parties at each other's home.   They were partially prompted to discontinue allowing their children to go door-to-door by news accounts of instances in some cities where children received unacceptable, even dangerous treats of various kinds.  

In time, my husband no longer was able to keep getting up and down to answer the door  to enjoy seeing those costumed treat-seekers lessening in number.  I kept up the activity for several years though the number of children coming to our door kept dwindling even more.  Eventually, we ceased purchasing treats to distribute at Halloween after being stuck with so many goodies -- too many tempting sweets we liked but didn't need to eat.   Trick or Treaters haven't been on my street for many years.   I no longer prepare for the event so leave my porch light off.   I do have pleasant memories of the fun from all those years ago.

I Put A Spell On You  -- Nina Simone

BLOGAVERSARY 15th -- THANK YOU

Blogaversary -- my 15th on October 24th  -- Where have all the years gone?

I want to tell all of you how much I've come to appreciate getting to know you, along the way.   As I've aged, I've mentioned in recent years how my once large family and wide number of friends here and across the country have been, surprisingly to me, dying in significantly increasing numbers.   How very inconsiderate of them -- a thought with which most of them if still able would laughingly agree!

Never in my wildest imagination did I ever anticipate I would be deprived  of the presence of so many in my life as has occurred with contemporaries and especially those younger than me.  Somehow, though I knew differently on some level, I expected in my old age that most people in my life for whom I cared would be around at least as long as I was, especially my husband, or probably even longer.

After my husband died, I finally was able to begin participating more in some local interest groups to possibly form new friends filling the gap left by the death of the many friends I had acquired in moves about our country through the years.   I was surprised to discover new social relationships did not evolve as readily as they had in my earlier years.  Given the shortened remaining time in our lives can challenge building relationships.  That said, I recall one older long gone friend once told me, there are no friends like old friends.  

This proved to be true for socialization with any participants beyond the monthly meeting times of groups I joined, such as Night Writers, which ended several years ago.  Then, as the years passed, most aging members, even much younger ones, began moving away, or had to devote more time to their loved one's needs, with a few developing serious medical issues, others dying.

In another example, some book club members I learned were caregivers of a spouse or another, and this outing was their only respite time, a situation with which I could identify.  Others hardly had enough time and energy to sustain involvement with local family members, old long time friends, or those new ones they were developing in their nearby retirement community, so they regretted inability to predictably incorporate new people from outside their world into their lives.  Couples circulated almost exclusively with other couples.  All of this is understandable.  I discovered other bloggers reports of encountering similar situations where they lived, thwarting their efforts to form a new local social network.

When I stopped my part time work at age 79, after a couple years some unexpected complications aging can bring began gradually slowing my activities, surprisingly to me at what I thought was my young age.  Had I anticipated this I would have retired sooner, but life is unpredictable.  Of course, like all of you, the pandemic has impacted my life, altering my situation somewhat more and my further socialization efforts as I continue living in place in my home.

Blogging, when I began,  I had perceived from others was believed to offer a multitude of untapped benefits to many including opening the world to older people via the Internet, as well as providing an opportunity to participate in a community, especially for those who live alone or might not have family close by. This was a concept with which I agreed, though not necessarily thinking of blogging being that important to me at the time.  

Little did I anticipate or realize that blogging would, in the years ahead for me, become much more significant in my social life.  So, I genuinely and sincerely offer an inadequate "thank you", to every one of you for writing your entertaining, often informative, occasionally humorous blogs, taking the time to comment on my own conglomeration of thoughts, and offering the blogger community virtual friendship we all enjoy.

On to the current world in which I live .....

I had my annual medical examination with my doctor concluding I was still alive -- just as I thought.   I received this year's protective flu injection.  The end of this coming week I'll be the recipient of the Pfizer Booster jab in my other arm.  Then, I'll be all shot up for however long all that lasts!  ha

If you saw news reports or read about the "Bomb Cyclone and 'Atmospheric River'" lambasting California last week, that rain and storm was elsewhere, not where I live, just below SoCal's foothills.  I did observe we received only a very limited, meager, dripping-off-my-house's-roof amount of rain.

Now, we actually have summer again for a few days with temperatures pushing into the eighties, to be followed soon by cooling into the seventies.  There's even a hint (10% chance) of moisture for several days which will do little or nothing to lessen drought in our area, if the rain really arrives.

Never fear, I believe fall is still trying to come on the scene!  A favorite song of mine seems appropriate here as I think of fall, my favorite season -- the spectacular colors of changing leaves from Aspens golden yellows to Maples rich rusts and deep reds, plus color variations from other trees and shrubs most observable at higher elevations than my own and more profoundly in other parts of our country where I once lived.  

There was that memorable overwhelmingly colorful fall driving trip my husband and I made up the eastern Atlantic coast through states including New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, into Niagara Falls and Canada.   This was my husband's birthday month as well as my own and others in my family.   

I'm also reminded of Eva Cassidy whose vocal talents were just becoming recognized when she died much too early in her young life.

Autumn Leaves (official video) 

 Eva Cassidy & the London Symphony Orchestra

https://lnk.to/evacassidy.      https://blix-street.lnk.to/AutumnLeaves

Then there were fall memories after our family was started, taking our children to a pumpkin patch at what was predominately a nut farm the rest of the year, near what was then called the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park, to make their selections for later carving.  One pumpkin's flesh I made into a family favored pumpkin pie.  

Many years later after I became a widow, fall trips to Michigan included visits to a cider farm reminding me of when as a young girl in Ohio we had an apple press from which we made our own cider a couple years. 

Another year in Michigan, when my grandson was younger we had come full circle with a trip to a pumpkin farm that included more cider and a challenging walk through a corn stalk maze.  

And then there's Halloween's ghosts and goblins along with the distributing and gathering of all those goodies!

Perhaps fall has special memories for you, too, and blogging has made your life more enjoyable. 

Thanks again to one an all bloggers and especially those I've come to know here! 

HALLOWEEN REFLECTIONS -- DST -- AGING -- HOPES

HALLOWEEN NIGHT is when I am writing this for scheduling to publish early Sunday morning.   Coincidentally, Daylight Savings Time also takes effect Sun. Nov. 1st at 2 a,m, when we must turn our clocks back one hour -- except in 2 states, Hawaii, Arizona and the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona.

Halloween we ceased to have trick or treaters come to our door and our street years ago, so I stopped leaving my inviting outside light on.  Young people also stopped being dropped off here from other nearby communities to seek treats from our residents.  I'm fairly confident there was no one this year either, given the safety restrictions due to our pandemic Covid-19.

We haven't had any small children living in our neighborhood for years but a few babies now.  Long ago families started having private parties in their homes rather than allowing their children to go door-to-door when news around the country reported problems with some hazardous items being found in candies.

After the first couple years of stocking up on Halloween treats once our children were grown and gone from home, then having all the candies left over, we finally stopped buying any.  We could at last avoid the temptation of consuming those left-over goodies ourselves, though at least I bought only candy we liked.  We didn't need the sweets, but couldn't let them go to waste, could we!

I recall when we first moved here and our children were small, there were lots of other young children.  Trick or treating was a fun experience.  First, we went with them, then as they became older, they went only with their friends.  

For a few years, a father in our community had rented  a gorilla suit.  After the really little ones had made their rounds, typically early in the evening, they were taken home by their parents.  The night was quite dark by then as the "gorilla" began to make random unexpected appearances coming out of the shadows on some streets to the mostly older children.  

Especially the first year he confronted the children, they hadn't known about him so he gave them quite a scary thrill.  Subsequent years they harbored anxious anticipation wondering if, when or where the gorilla might appear.  They speculated about what else might be out there.  

A few years I had an audio tape of Halloween sounds -- wolves howling, chains rattling, voices moaning, cats screeching with other eerie noises and music -- that played from out of our pitch-black darkened garage.  This gave pause to some coming hesitantly up our drive.  Only one time was I disappointed with the behavior of some older unknown when I discovered one of our carved pumpkins sitting by our front door had been smashed by an obvious kick.  

Generations Halloween experiences change over decades.  My mother who would have been young in the early nineteen-hundreds when our nation was primarily a farming society, during horse and buggy days, had more restricted outings.  Some families might get together, church groups which were often social centers, or small farm area civic centers that had a store or two might have special Halloween events.  Older kids had limited travel capabilities from farm to farm (no cars) but could manage to get about.

Mom recalled a story where she lived in those days before indoor plumbing when one neighbor had their outhouse turned over.  Unfortunately, unknown to the tricksters, someone was sitting on the throne at the time.   Imaging in my mind what this might have been like in that odiferous environment is almost beyond comprehension if you've never had the treat of using one of those facilities.

The years when I was little we lived in a small town.  My decade older brother was cautioned by my mother when he went out, to use care about anything he might do, especially on Halloween.  Soaping people's windows was common then, so she put soap on a window, had him clean it to show him how difficult it could be to remove the soap.

She intended to discourage him from any such activity -- that soaping was not acceptable harmless fun.  She also stressed that he use good judgement to avoid participating in any actions others in his group might do if he knew they were wrong.  She reminded him also that with his red hair he would stand out, likely be remembered when others might not, even if he was innocent, if observed by victims of any nefarious activity from his group's members.

Years before kids went out only one night for treats, Mother said they used to go out two nights.  The first night was to ask for treats, then the next night to trick those who hadn't given them a treat.  The custom had long before become one Halloween night when I went out, but it was called Beggars Night.  I had shelled corn from a cob to throw on someone's porch that same night if I warranted they deserved a trick which seemed harmless enough.  

I'm still regretful in my now aged state about throwing corn on the porch at one home.  An older lady had come to the door angrily shooing us off with no treat.  Maybe she couldn't afford to buy candy to give out,  it was hard to keep going to the door, she was ill or had dementia.  What if her vision was poor, she had difficulty standing or walking I've sometimes since thought?

I realize now how inconvenient and even hazardous that could have been for her, stepping on those kernels and needing to clear them from her porch.  I've thought since of my own grandmother who I loved dearly, but we just ran away and down the street to the next house.  I wish now I could take that corn back, or would have at least swept it off her porch.  

This is finally the week our 2020 Presidential election occurs.  News reports indicate we're likely to have a record-setting turnout of voters all over the country.  All accounts are that a high percentage of voters submitted their ballot early as I did, too, depositing mine in an official drop box where I usually voted in person.  Checking on the internet revealed within only a few days that my ballot had been received, accepted, so would be processed for counting.  My family members in other states across the country voted early, too, as did at least one California friend that I know about. 

Voter suppression in some states being instituted primarily by the Republican Party hardly can be considered patriotic or in keeping with the tenets of our Constitution, nation's founders, or our democratic republic's ideals.

I'm also appalled and alarmed at any actions threatening the security of candidates campaigning in an effort to suppress the expression of views.  Such behavior is totally unacceptable and un-American.

Whether or not the outcome of the election will be determined by the end of election night, or even in the wee hours of the next morning, remains to be seen with so many mail-in and drop-box ballots to be counted.

-- I hope we'll be spared premature announcements of a winner by news media or candidates, other pundits until all the ballots have been counted.

-- I hope the popular vote winner also wins the majority electoral college votes unlike the travesty that has occurred in our nation's recent past twice to our nation's detriment.

-- I hope the U.S. Supreme Court is not drawn into deciding who our next President will be given the seriously questionable legal interpretations as they previously have made.

-- I hope we will know the results of this election by the time I write here next week.

I WONDER what are the Halloween recollections of others?   I expect most want election  results resolution much as I do.

HUMEROUS OR OTHERWISE FAMILY STORIES

Escaping the ever-present effects on our lives from “the virus” – that viral one in the atmosphere and the other one in the White House, my mind has taken respite in all sorts of humor-eliciting matter – cartoons, satirical writing and viewing performers whose perspective on daily life often reveals a bizarre point of view reminding me of just how crazy life can be. 

Also, crossing my mind are recollections of laugh worthy events or circumstances I’ve experienced.  I am reminded of stories generations share that are unique to each family contributing to the special bonds to one another we feel. 

My mother shared a few tales from her early nineteen hundred’s young life that titillated our family.   We were still primarily an agrarian society just beginning to give way to becoming industrialized.   Small farmers prospered as did her father.   Homes were gradually becoming modernized with electricity, telephones, outhouses giving way to indoor plumbing, likewise well water pumps were placed inside the kitchen.   

My maternal grandfather was considered progressive, so his neighbor farmers sometimes razzed him by asking when he was going to get one of those new-fangled automobiles.  He would respond that he was waiting to get an airplane. 

Mother would relate neighborhood tales that aroused her community at the time, such as one Halloween some enterprising young farm boys thought it would be hilarious to upset one farmer’s outhouse, so they did.  What they hadn’t counted on, was that someone was in it at the time.

Then, there was the young niece who took great delight in explaining to all who would listen who the relatives were that were pictured on the wall.   All would wait to hear her say, “And that is Grandpa Hall’s Hyde!” 

One of mother’s favored tales was about her father when their rural farm community finally had a telephone system – one with party lines shared with a few neighbors.    Each person’s phone line had a different ring, such as one short and two long rings, or one long, a short and another long ring, for example.  The caller cranked their phone accordingly to reach the party they wanted.  If one party was on the phone, none of the others could make a call.

One day, some sort of problem came up for my Grandfather who felt he needed to make a call post haste.  He kept picking up the phone to find the same neighbor lady, known for using the line a lot, was on the line talking to another woman.  Considerable time passed and each time my Grandfather picked up the phone she was still on the line. 

Phone users on the line could tell if someone picked up the phone as there would be a click when they picked up their phone and another click when they hung up so this would discourage eves-droppers.  Also, it would indicate to the phone line user that someone else wanted to use the line, so as a matter of courtesy the user typically would make an effort to end their call quickly.

On the occasion of my Grandfather’s call effort, considerable time elapsed and she remained on the line.  Quite contrary to his character, my grandfather became quite exasperated.  Finally he picked up the phone once more, heard the woman say, “...so I washed down as far as possible and then ....” to which my grandfather interrupted by saying, “Well, why don’t you go wash possible and get off this line so I can make a call!”

I still chuckle to myself, picturing that scene, though I never knew my grandfather since he had died years before I was born. 

Are there stories unique to your family that are shared with great relish with one another?

Living In Place Complications

Technology is carefully interrelated in such a manner today that I find once I succumb to using one tech item, sooner or later I must adopt another, ad infinitum. Frankly, I think I can hear conversations exchanged between all these communication devices. Today, I think I heard a cell phone I was using chuckling with the ATM which had tricked me, over what a fool I'd been made of, and now the borrowed cell phone (since I didn't yet have one of my own) was going to rescue me from my dilemma, thus proving how we humans cannot survive without any of them.

My day began innocently enough as I awakened to the sound of grass being mowed, hedges being trimmed and power blowers chasing leaves, all manned by those hired to aid those less able to do all that themselves. I remember as a young girl the days before all this power equipment and having to use an old-fashioned push mower -- I was the power. I have no nostalgia to return to those days. Once I had a home of my own, my husband and I (mostly my husband) prided ourselves in performing our own yard care as did our neighbors.

Then, something happened in our neighborhood. We all became older or health changes occurred. Next thing we knew the better part of wisdom dictated letting someone else perform those yard care tasks. Gone are the days when the neighborhood boys wanted to earn a few extra dollars, so we could hire them to assist with yard care to supplement their newspaper delivery route income. Boys don't even deliver newspapers anymore, adults deliver the papers now from their cars. Even teenage girls are rarely available for babysitting, for by the time they're old enough and mature enough for that responsibility as sophomore to senior high school students, they no longer are interested in such employment. I'm told babysitters today are often Jr. High School age girls from sixth grade through ninth. I would never have allowed a child that young to sit with my babies and young children.

But I digress as I am prone to do. I retrieved the morning papers from the drive, noticing this was a lovely warm Southern California Fall day. The sky was blue, now, streaked with white clouds, a delight to the eye, compared to the dirty tan and ashy gray we had seen with the recent Southern California fires. The atmosphere appeared clear, but I knew invisible particles and respiratory irritants were still present in the outdoor air, since my voice continues to acquire an every so slight raspy quality daily with much exposure to outdoor air. The fires east of here are still not quite contained.

As I readied for my day, I took personal pleasure in the fact I had planned and executed well some routine periodic tasks the day before, involved in caring for my auto, such as the regular oil change, tires rotated, a cleansing wash and wax to rid the exterior of damaging ashes plus any other residue from recent fires, along with having the auto interior cleaned. They also washed all the little round yellow drops off the surface of my car. Just as a side note, I've been wondering for weeks what the round yellow drops were. I just read in the L. A. Times that research had confirmed they were from bees and were pollen associated, but not as everyone had thought. They were in fact: bee "poop" processed pollen. Who knew.

I decided on breakfast out, taking along my usual newspaper to read, which was my plan following performing a number of errands before going to work around the lunch time hours. Prior to leaving the house I had completed my regular end of the month reports and paperwork which I would copy at the nearby printer, then drop off at our local office. With some errands completed, I cheerfully arrived at the ATM, inserted my card, entered the requested information as usual, then inserted the check I definitely wanted credited to my account that day. I also needed to withdraw some cash from my account.

On the screen, up jumped the little flashing dots that raced one after the other horizontally in front of me, then started over again, while the printed message above said "Processing..." Nothing more happened after that, the "processing" continued with those increasingly maddening little flashing dots repetitively racing nowhere. Finally, striking the "Cancel" key in an attempt to retrieve my card and check, I discovered, nothing changed -- "Processing" and those now irritating flashing dots continued as before.

What to do? I wasn't about to leave the machine with my card and check inside, my account open, should the ATM suddenly finish processing and spit them all back out, leaving my account exposed for whoever might appear there next. Several people came by, but beat a hasty retreat as soon as I explained there appeared to be a cash machine malfunction. They turned a deaf ear to my queries about how to get to a phone to report this dilemma to the bank while safeguarding my ATM card and check lost inside the machine. Privately, I dreaded making the phone call, as I knew it meant reaching a recorded message offering me umpteen different choices from which to select and then after a likely interminably long wait, to actually talk with a human being (probably on the other side of this continent, but, hopefully, not outside the country.)

Finally, some good hearted soul came by, was sympathetic to my plight, offered me her cell phone without my asking. Later I learned she was a nurse on her lunch hour which I inadvertently caused her to spend with me. Who says health care workers are insensitive to other people any more? As expected, the bank person I reached with the cell phone was located elsewhere and was quite unfamiliar with my community. I carefully made certain he didn't mix up the name of my city with another pronounced the same but spelled differently, as I had long ago learned the hard way was a mistake often made by others with undesired results.

This bank representative elicited needed personal information, so I'm spewing out my most private security data to which the cell phone lender was privy. (There is no privacy any more as someone keeps telling me, and I keep getting convinced regularly.) The Rep then gave me assurance my deposited official bank check would be credited to my account at the end of the day when they closed out the machine, thus covering checks previously written for which I did not want to be overdrawn. My card having been devoured by the ATM would be cancelled and I would receive a new one within days in the mail.

I repeated what an earlier party who had stopped by the ATM to commiserate with me (but could offer no further assistance,) advised me to do, simply because I liked the way what he said sounded and it made me feel more in control. I told the bank official I would hold the bank personally responsible for any charges that might occur against my account as a consequence of this if all he promised didn't happen and I incurred financial loss.

Then, just when I thought the matter was finished, the bank person transferred me to another employee, to which I had the joy and pleasure (I am being sarcastic) of going through much of this again -- their "Loss and Claims Dept." or some such title. Whatever happened to the days when one employee could take care of everything? I normally would have been writing employee names and promises down, but was unable to do so, and by this time the poor nurse is telling me, "I have to go back to work now," so she needed her phone returned. As she quickly departed, I didn't even get her name or where she worked to offer more than the verbal "thanks" I gave her. I sure hope she had lunch before she came to do her banking which she obviously didn't get to complete.

This is about the third new ATM model installed in this location as they keep "improving"(?) them. Well, I haven't liked this latest model from the beginning, partially because there's much less privacy since it takes any checks that are being deposited, then displays them on the big screen, anyone around could easily see. After this little event today off I went to complete more of my errands, including a newly added stop at my bricks and mortar bank to which that ATM belongs. Also, by going there, I increased my comfort level by double checking to see if I needed to advise my "real" bank directly, as I think of the "bricks and mortar" one, to insure no problem (there was no need to do so, I learned.) I finally got that extra cash I needed. I decided to provide my assessment of this new ATM -- a not very pleasant appraisal -- to my friendly local banker while I was there.

Imagine my surprise when he commiserated with me, saying he had managed to keep that new ATM model from replacing the several directly outside the bank because he had learned the new model had entirely too many unresolved problems. He said he hopes by stalling, that within the next few months they'll get the problems with this new model resolved, because he knows that model will ultimately be installed everywhere. Whatever happened to working out technical machine problems BEFORE putting them into use? They seem to do a lot of that premature releasing of tech equipment -- letting customers work out the bugs.

My banker advised me not to use that ATM any more that I used today, or others placed out like that (it's in the front of what was my deli in a solid connected series of store fronts in a small shopping center.) He also said to avoid the lone standing ATMs in stores or elsewhere, instead to transact ATM business through my grocery store check out clerk. Or, come directly to his and other brick and mortar buildings using their ATMs, or the tellers inside the bank.

I said having to drive myself now for banking, defeated my carefully laid plans for later life independence. First the bank did away with my brick and mortar branch, then they finally put in this ATM 'cause so many people complained. Now, I learn it's best to avoid that ATM. I told him I had discovered not long ago, my residence was positioned so that I was located within walking distance of just about every service I might need, should I ever reach a point where driving a car was no longer possible, and that I liked the idea of living in place as I aged.

I added, I thought it was quite likely that a number of increasingly aging adults were also interested in aging in place. Therefore, we need nearby good safe reliable places whereby we can transact our banking business. I didn't mention my bank wasn't the first to thwart my goal, since a few years ago my local deli closed, which is where they put this ATM and gave the rest of the building to the last thing we needed -- a nail salon and tanning booth.

He suggested I should consider banking on line, and he would like to teach me how to do so securely. Maybe the time has come to check into that, too. Not all checks can be deposited automatically though, nor can I retrieve cash from my computer,so guess I still will need to get to my bank sometimes. I expect to be able to do so for a lot of years to come, but you never know what can happen. Can't plan too far ahead these days, so who knows what will develop with my expectation to live in place here in my home, or how the neighborhood will evolve.

I don't like the idea of banking in my supermarket, but... I guess I'd better consider investigating banking online, but ... I think before this year ends I'll get a cell phone, but... I don't really need it that much and I still want to keep my land line. Did I mention right after the ATM fiasco I walked two doors down and picked up a cell phone catalog at my local Verizon store, co-incidentally re-opened today, and listened to the salesman's pitch? I'll consult with my kids for the real scoop.

I'm not going to use that ATM anymore, but... do you think it knew that I didn't like it? Was there some sort of conspiracy in the airwaves between the cell phones in the re-opened store and the ATM? Then, I remembered the date 10/31/07 -- that the day was Halloween. Those darn goblins! The way things were going, I decided not to go out to the pumpkin patch last night to watch for "The Great Pumpkin," just in case the goblins might turn up there. Maybe next year.