Charlie

He has more smooth curves than that Porsche!

It was a cloudless Christmas Eve in Palm Springs, with a full moon overhead, so I knew Santa could easily find his way to my chimney. I was awakened in the wee hours by a noise in the living room, so I went to investigate, but it was only my spouse staggering around in the dark trying to find the bathroom. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Those photos look like they were taken at very different times in his life. None of them make him look like a "dark blond(e)."

"Influencer" is the new desired career choice.

Has anyone read the novel The Guncle by Steven Rowley? It was recently recommended to me by a straight married woman friend, who said it is very funny but also very heartwarming, so I intend to start it soon. (I am a "guncle" by marriage rather than by blood.)

I was a younger gay man in the '50s who watched I Love Lucy every week, and I never felt the slightest gay vibe from Fred. He reminded me of my grandfather, who was a grumpy old private detective.

OMG! I had a summer job in North Bergen when I was a teenager.

This is making me nostalgic! My college roommate was from Mahwah, and my first fulltime job was in Lodi.

Opposites attract?

Given all the questions here about different providers on Rentmen, I'd say that most members here--regardless of generation--have their own version of menu anxiety among expensive choices.

I did, too.

Only if I were accompanied by an armed guard at all times.

We drove up to the Whitewater Preserve this afternoon. Blue skies, sunshine, temps in the 70s. The fall foliage still hasn't disappeared from the trees, so the views were gorgeous. This is the first weekend it has been open since August, when the road up to it was damaged by flooding, so more people than usual had made the trek this late in the year.

If you have allergies and want to know all the science around them and their treatment, Allergic by Theresa MacPhail is a thorough introduction. But it is not an easy read.

He says, "I don't fight against nature, I just let nature be." And then he disfigures himself with that facial jewelry.

I think it's a 1955 Eldorado.

I think a lot of the arguing that this thread has deteriorated into is due to my failing to clearly define my terms. The roles of "responsible person" and "caregiver" can be played by a single person, but they don't have to be. I happen to be both for my spouse. As "caregiver", I do all his shopping, make his meals, administer his medications, take him for walks, sometimes wash and shave him, help him use his computer and DVD player, take him to medical appointments, etc., and watch over him for much of the time. As the "responsible person," I make his medical appointments, take him to them and sit in with him during them, handle all his financial affairs, including banking and consultation with his financial advisor, do his taxes, monitor his phone calls, and act as intermediary with the government (jury duty, SS, etc.). I have his power of attorney. I could hire someone to be his caregiver, either in house or in a care facility, but I would not want that person or institution to also do all the things I do as the "responsible person" for him. I started this thread because I wondered how others here went about finding or choosing a responsible person for themselves if they didn't have children or other family to act as the "responsible person," not necessarily also as a caregiver. I like and trust my in-laws, specifically my spouse's youngest brother and his niece, not to simply find a way to get our money and abandon us or me to no care or poor care, but I don't expect either of them to be his/my/our caregiver. But I do wonder if my spouse dies first--which is highly likely--whether they or other close family members will feel as much responsibility for my care as I believe they would for his.

Hmmm....Do you suppose it's changed in the last 60 years?🤔

@nycman is correct!! The last time I checked over the weekend it was still closed (since late August), but it apparently re-opened two days ago.

Marlon Brando?

Unfortunately, the Whitewater Preserve is closed indefinitely because of problems with the access roads.

I normally eat a banana with breakfast, but lately I have been finding bananas that look unblemished on the outside, but are rotten when I peel away the skin.

My employer actually encouraged me to retire at 60, by giving me one year's extra pay to do so; that way they could hire a young replacement for the years until I was 65, for much less money than they were paying me (I had a tenured teaching job). So I took early retirement at 60, but I used the extra year's salary plus part-time consulting work, so I didn't start taking SS until I was 65. My spouse retired at 62 and began taking SS immediately, but he is eight years older than I am, so by the time I started, my base was already higher than his, and because of the system of only adding the same percentage of the individual's current payment to each annual increase, my SS monthly payment has become progressively larger than his over the years. Neither one of us could live comfortably on his own on his single SS, but we might be able to at least manage on our combined SS; luckily, we have other income sources that are greater than our SS income, so the SS is a supplement rather than the primary source, as is probably true for most middle class retirees.

I have visited only four of them (in CA, MI, RI and VA).

I can't visit this thread very often--my heart is pounding!