Living on Nothing and Not Liking it Much

When COVID hit, I suffered a loss in editing jobs. This coincided with the person who was feeding me work deciding to retire that part of her business. Suddenly, all I had was Social Security, and that wasn’t enough.

Even though I’d cut a lot of corners already, I had to somehow jettison more expense. Last December, when the rat chewed through my windshield wiper motor cable, I had to dig into my savings to pay for the repair. That, and the replacement 12v battery for the Prius, cost about $1400. You cannot live in Florida without a car unless you’re right in town and can walk a ways. Bus service is limited everywhere, and at my current location doesn’t exist at all.

Everyone is subject to unexpected bills once in a while, but when your monthly income doesn’t cover basic expenses, what then? Because of the sharp spike in rent and grocery prices the last few years, the poor are being hit extremely hard. Homelessness has increased all over the country, and the number of seniors among them is higher than it’s ever been.

I’m lucky I still have a roof over my head, but how much longer can it last? Our COLA in January was a pitiful 3.2%. For me, that was an additional $40/month… but my lot rent went up exactly that much last October, so it was as if I’d gotten no “raise” at all.

I wish I could find a small, cheap, studio apartment somewhere, but they don’t exist anymore. Rent a room? I used to see them for $400-500 a month. Not anymore. Now they start at $600, and you’re living in someone else’s house, and sharing a kitchen and sometimes a bathroom. Get a roommate? I’ve considered it, much as I despise the thought of sharing personal space with anyone, but finding the right person is nearly impossible. I’ve looked into that, too.

A Photography Experiment

In a moment of insanity, I set myself the goal of using only the Sony 50mm prime lens last weekend, starting on Friday. I knew this would be a challenge, because I generally use the telephoto lens, so I can get close to wildlife.

At first I was at a loss. How should I start? I even “cheated” by capturing a wonderfully stormy sky in a pano of four photos instead of capturing it all in one frame. I didn’t want to step that far back, plus stuff would have been in the way of that view.

I’m not sorry, because look at that sky! There was a tornado warning just north of us (I found out later), which explains the dramatic clouds. I promise the rest of the photos were only cropped and edited, as usual.

This is still Friday: a purple queen plant, part of the landscaping at the nearby college. That lens takes really nice closeup pics!

Tricolor Heron Catches Lunch

First, don’t even ask me what that thing is. It could be a mole cricket, but I honestly don’t know. I can’t see it clearly enough to ID it. The heron found it in the water or in the long reeds adjacent to it.

Being there for the entire incident was exciting! I only rarely get to capture the process start to finish. I chose the four most illustrative photos in the series.

The tricolor heron is a majestic bird, with a stripe of color down the front of his neck. Here, he has almost all his breeding colors; more of the purple-red will show up soon. The white “flag” on the back of his head indicates he’s a male. If we could see his legs, they would be pink. Normally, they are yellow.

First photo. He caught something. It wriggled desperately in an attempt to escape. The heron tossed the prey up and down, and it almost got away a couple of times. Seeing this, I got the impression it was almost a game, but I think the heron is aligning it for ease of swallowing.

Where the hell was I?

Recently I was going through old photos, and I found this one.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I have no freaking idea where I was when I took that picture! I don’t recognize anything about it. Why did I even take it? There’s no boat on the water, no birds in the air, no dragon lurking behind what might be a small island in the lake. It’s just water and a shoreline.

The photo tells me I was using an Olympus camera when I took it. Not very helpful; I used an Olympus camera for several years. Checking under Properties, I see I took the picture on November 4, 2006, at 3:36 p.m. That was a Saturday; I looked it up. Makes sense, as I was working full time then and only got to drive around on weekends. Suki, my dog, would have been about a year old, and she would have been with me, because I took her everywhere. But she’s not in the shot.

I am in a mood today

“Mood” is italicized.

I don’t want to read, I don’t want to watch TV, I certainly don’t want to be online (the news is horrible, and I’m tired of everything else), so I am going to work on a jigsaw puzzle today. I haven’t done one in a long time… years, in fact. But I like them. They are calming, especially if I listen to music on the headphones while doing it. A glass of wine helps, too.

I’ve always liked putting things in order, and a jigsaw puzzle assuages that anxious feeling inside I sometimes get. I can’t fix the political situation (and oh my gawd, I’m so tired of the bullshit these days!). I can’t afford to move (which I almost desperately want to do, as I’m bored with where I live after almost four years). I can’t take a trip anywhere (I’d like to, but I don’t have any money).

So a jigsaw puzzle it is. I used to do big, complicated 1500-piece puzzles, but I don’t have the patience for that right now. Plus I have to do it on the kitchen table, and 500 pieces is about all it can handle. It’s just the right size for the mood I’m in (“mood” is not italicized this time).

I just want to do something mindless for a few hours. Not read any headlines, not hear about anything horrible that’s happened, not think about how everything seems to be falling apart or circling the drain.

I want to put together a simple jigsaw puzzle, and as I place the last piece, I will feel like I accomplished something wonderful. If I’m lucky, I’ll hang on to that feeling the rest of the day.

Whatever you’re doing today, I hope you enjoy it! I’m checking out for a while, and I will definitely enjoy it.