The fundraiser is over. Thank you for your support. The blog is now a travelog for
Lucy Lucid on the Loose.
Copyright 2010-2023 by V. J. Lucid
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| Our 1969 Mustang Grande |
I know there are at least a few people who don't really like me, either because I'm a smarty-pants (guilty, as charged) or for some other reason that may or may not be valid. Everyone loved Debbi. So if you're one of them and you have refrained from making a donation to the fundraiser, please do it for Debbi, not for me. After all these years by my side, she is surely tired of hearing me bitch and moan. Thank you!
After my wife passed away, I sold the big house, paid off all my debts and bought a cabin in the woods -- 7 acres on a private lake. The Amish are marvelous carpenters, but they don't do plumbing or electricity. Either did I, but I couldn't afford contractors, so I learned.
I learned that LIFE OFF-THE-GRID (especially on a hill) is a lot of work: firewood, propane, whatever. It's a problem just getting the groceries from the car into the cabin. Hoisting a 300-lb Amish chimney into place is a challenge. The cost of perseverance is pain, lots and lots of pain...but I manage to get by on Social Security. I retired at 48 for health reasons, so there are no retirement savings.
(Photo from Google Earth, so the vertical scale is exaggerated)
It is quiet out here.
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The following is a little biographical information, much of which was compiled by Shelly DeGolyer from my Facebook page.
This is how I described myself on Etsy, some time ago. It's fairly comprehensive.
ABOUT ME
Folks think I don’t do much 'cause I’m retired.
Well, why am I never, ever bored? Maybe it’s
because I’m a widower, father and a cat valet;
tenor, cantor, chorister, a harmonica player;
composer; photographer and philosopher;
book-seller & antiques dealer; dreamer;
kayaker, canoeist and bicyclist; once a
Ph.D. biologist, still a naturalist, but
now more often a lyricist, satirist
or humorist; Transcendentalist
and a Catholic Buddhist (vice-
versa, I suppose); now semi-
professional artist; rather
prolific writer of poetry
and a little less prose.
My occupation, in a
word, is ‘Pilgrim’,
certainly not a
‘retiree’ who
has little or
nothing to
do. Nope.
Bored?
Never,
ever.
Not
me
!
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SCUBA is easy
WALKING is difficult
RUNNING is impossible
Let's make the impossible possible...
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SCOOTING in style
It's great in airports
but it's suicidal on stairs
The local supermarket said I couldn't ride it in the store.
So I wrote a letter that began with "In accordance with the AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT..."
Now I hang a shopping basket on the handlebars.
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I do clean up good.
for the Syracuse Oratorio Society
at a Symphoria concert
Assuming the fundraising effort organized on my behalf by Shelly DeGolyer (a daughter I never had) is successful, I'll be going to Hanger Clinic in Gig Harbor, Washington, in October. There, I'll be fitted with a high-tech orthotic/prosthetic hybrid for my lower right leg. Hopefully, it will enable me to walk unassisted, maybe even run again. Please see the GoFundMe Campaign (link above) for a full explanation and an amazing video of what other candidates have been able to do.
MY SCHEDULE
I'm leaving my cabin on Autumn Lake in Northern New York in late September, with my one remaining cat (Corina), and pulling my new travel trailer with my old Jeep Grand Cherokee. You'll be able to follow my progress on this blog. I'll be at Gig Harbor October 12-14 for the fitting -- and again October 21-27 for the rigorous training program. Remember, this device was developed by the US Army for wounded soldiers, some of whom wanted to return to active duty. Me, too...but not in the Army.
I can't go home until May 1. We get up to 300 inches of snow here, east of Lake Ontario. My driveway is 0.25 mile long, up-hill and north-facing. The snow lingers. In the past, I've gotten stuck for days in my driveway in mid-April. So you are invited to tour the country with me. I visit a lot of National Parks and do a lot of kayaking and bicycling. This year, I might be able to go on hikes, too! Imagine that.
RUN VINNY RUN STOPS HERE!
SO YOU CAN STOP SCROLLING.
YOU ARE WELCOME TO PERUSE MY OLD BLOG POSTS,
BUT YOU PROBABLY HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO.
DON'T YOU!
GO HUG SOMEONE.
WALK THE DOG.
WALK THE CATS. (Good luck! Let me know how it goes.)
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I have a some alternatives for fiscally conservative Republicans to consider rather than spending $15 billion to build a wall along the Mexican border. I have saved the best for last.
(1) Why not plant a cactus fence along the border, like in the picture below?
(2) Construction workers in Mexico learn about a $1.40 an hour, compared to $32 per hour for union construction workers in the US. Assuming that half of the total cost is materials, virtually all of the labor cost could be eliminated by hiring Mexican workers to build the wall.
(3)You can save even more by building the wall near the border between Mexico and Guatemala -- where it's only about 150 miles from sea to sea. Mexico might even be willing to pay for that alternative to keep the Guatemalans out.
(6) Lay off all the Border Control Agents and put a $1,000/head bounty on the illegal immigrants. Then let the vigilantes solve the problem. This would reduce the annual cost to $7,200,000. The program could be terminated when tRump leaves office.(4) Better yet ... an estimated 720,000 illegal immigrants enter the US annually across the Mexican border -- and about half of them get caught. These 360,000 could be detained in labor camps and paid 10¢/hour to construct the wall.
(5) Even better still, let's pay them to not build the wall, but we'll tell tRump that they are working hard.
(7) My personal favorite is to build a 3-inch high wall out of Legos in the eastbound breakdown lanes of Interstate Highways I-8 and I-10, as a diversion, and scatter loose Legos along it -- with signs in Spanish saying "Please remove shoes before entering the USA".
