Preparing to Age in Place

I wear an Apple watch when I'm awake, take it off to recharge when I'm sleeping.
It has a "fall detector" which has tried to call emergency services several times when I shoved something heavy or made an odd movement.
It takes spoken commands when I press the side button....usually.
Apple watches with SIM cards connect directly to wifi or cell networks. My basic watch connects through my iPhone, which needs to be fairly close (within 30 feet?)
It also tracks my steps, walks, pulse and a few other actions.
As long as they are charged, these devices will work during a power outage.

My Medicare Supplement health insurance sent me a devise to make emergency calls if I fall.. I wear it every time I go outside to work in my yard or for any other reason. I don't pay a monthly fee. I have neuropathy in my feet which makes me eligible for it.

I hope you have air conditioning! It didn't take many visits to Arizona for me to decide "No Way!" Now the humidity is unusual there, right? It might be giving some plants a taste of moisture.

I grew up in upstate NY and sympathize. 90% humidity was bad, but usually it would rain for a little while and that cooled things down and lowered the humidity. Not a lot of rain in the summer in Arizona. We lived in central California, where my wife grew up, and summers are always hot and dry there. I think I would consider one of those misters that sprays a fine mist from above. In fact, it sounds like a good idea right now in central Oregon where we're having a hot, dry spell.

We don't have any air conditioning, and when the house was over 90°, we went to Dairy Queen to cool down. Yesterday the power was off for several hours, so we sat outside under the elms. It gets windy here most days in the late afternoon, so it was welcome.

Stay safe in the heat.

Jim

My garage/shop is cooler than the house. It has a new metal roof and an enclosed carport on each end, all of which helps. We also have a cellar that stays between 45 and 60 year round. I haven't been down there for a month because I don't do stairs with a wheelchair or knee scooter. But thanks to our retired carpenter neighbor I can go down the ramp and roll over to the cooler detached garage. For the next week or two it's only supposed to be in the low 90's, which I don't mind. We are at 3400' elevation, high desert/plains, and we live in the country on irrigated land, so our location is more temperate even than town. It helps a little if I put a sprinkler outside the family room window and run a small window fan.

My service dog has the right idea. Several times a day she's wet from being in the irrigation canal running along the driveway. I'm tempted.

Jim

The political news, extreme weather and brief (but frightening) power outages have made the last two weeks emotionally difficult for me, and I believe for many of us.
Those of us who have lived a few decades are well aware that there are times that can be very gloomy.
With age I find I can feel very vulnerable in such moments.

It's important to nurture the life-savers, spirit-lifters and heart-soothers in our lives, as the truth is that we will need them.

-For my wife and me, our dogs are important connectors to basic life energies and needs. Their needs are simple, and we can give them walks, food, water, snuggles and comfort from thunder. Nurturing them takes us away from our fears (which are mostly imagined in the future, not here and now).

-Our oldest neighbor helped me with a concern about neighborhood conflict and our youngest neighbor shows me again and again how creative and intentional an 18 month old person can be.

-My shop work offers problems that can usually be solved with ruler, pencil, saw and glue.

-The bird feeders are busy with the latest fledglings.

-And my wife is completely off pain-relievers for the first time in 25 years!!!

These are some Here-and-Nows of my life, which give me reasons to get up and move: a very important part of Aging in Place!

Please, let's share our daily spirit lifters. We can lift ourselves together.

This was timely! We were with a few friends of many-years standing last night, the "baby" is about to turn 70. Recent politics, weather, and health and eldercare concerns were not the most cheery of topics.

But one thing we have begun to do (since 2 of us tend to be more chatty than the others) is a round table check-in, where each of us does a current status report over beverages and appetizers. Almost everyone tries to add an upbeat anecdote to theirs.

Of course, we fell into an interesting political discussion - we range in opinion from quite conservative to very liberal. It is amazing to me to see how our varied views, and being able to discuss them comfortably, has led to each of us changing some part of our opinions, clarifying others and being open to one another. We were able to express ourselves, disagree, try to convince, and still hug at the end of the evening.

And the "comic relief" for the evening was our friends' grand-dog and her antics.

So one of my favorite spirit-lifters is time with friends. In fact, during pandemic isolation, and winters when we are far away, we have monthly cocktail hours to keep in touch.

Thank you for your post! Spirit lifters, yes!
-Friends gave me a lovely bouquet of flowers and a gift certificate to a local book store when I finished my stint as Recording Secretary of a group I belong to. The flowers are lovely on my dining room table. And books, I love.
-In the front yard the crocosmia is blooming and bringing in the humming birds. Such a delight especially in the evening when two, or three, or even four hummers will be chasing each other trying to claim ownership of the blossoms.
-Desert Sweet is starting to bloom, and it is pulling in many tiny native bees providing them with sustenance.
-Blueberries in the fridge, ready to go into pancakes.
-A wonderful, caring daughter who, six days after a cervical spinal fusion, remembered my birthday.
Lots of spirit lifters.

This is such a wonderful post!

Aging gives us such wisdom to truly appreciate all that is around us. The small little gifts bring such joy, and we bless the big stuff, things we never thought would happen, and do.

I believe we all have the capacity to be a "spirit lifter". I like this term. There is a light inside of us that is begging to glow. Any small act of kindness will activate it. It make us and the people around us better. Pet, wildlife etc included.

Let it begin with me.

I'm 60 so still relatively young but a few years ago we sold our house in California, and used the crazy profits to buy a house outright in another state and fully remodel it with the idea of "future proofing" it for when we get older.

We replaced one of the two bathtubs with a walk in shower and had the wall behind two marked tiles reinforced so we can add a grab bar in the future if necessary. We also put high toilets vs. the lower ones that are standard.

We put extra recessed lighting in all of the ceilings with dimmers but without the dimmers all the rooms are EXTREMELY bright. We also put lighting in all the closets and kitchen cabinets. We have a traditional stove but bought a large toaster oven that also bakes and broils with a timer so that it can never be left on accidentally and will always shut off after no more than an hour. I'm actually using this now because I am doing hormone therapy for prostate cancer and have become VERY forgetful of things so don't want to take a chance of burning the house down.

We had benches installed in various places in the yard and a walking path around the edges of the yard since the grassy area isn't level.

We replaced all the area rugs with large rugs that don't slide or bunch up. We replaced the slippery wood flooring with wood that offers more grip.

All of the basic functions of the house (heat, AC, etc.) are automated with five modes day, evening, bed, sleep and away. Depending on the time of day, heat/AC, lights and our burglar alarm are automatically turned on or off in various parts of the house. For example, in "bed" mode, only the bedroom is heated or cooled and only the bedroom lights are on.

We also plan to keep using Apple Watches. In the future, they will be a lot less expensive than something like Life Alert.

There are many more spirit lifters around than we're aware of. My service dog for sure. Being partial weight bearing on my right leg, full weight bearing in a few days. When the power comes back after 8 hours. Knowing the fire 5 miles away is at the mop up stage. Tiger swallow tails and monarchs. Good neighbors. Livestream church when we can't be there in person. Great doctors. My wife's dog is asking to be let back in the house, or I would list dozens more.

Jim