Our Increasingly Silent World!

My greatest fear is to wake up some morning and not hear anything at all.  I am not sure I would want to live in a totally silent world, never again to hear the voices of my love ones, my favorite music, the birds singing, all of those annoying little noises that make up everyday life.  I'd probably even miss the sound of my alarm clock going off at 3 a.m.

My hearing loss started when I was young and has gotten increasingly worse with the years.  When I remove my hearing aids, the world is a much quieter place, but I can still hear a little bit.  My husband, Homer, also has severe hearing loss.  I can't hear low pitched sounds and he can't hear any high pitched sounds.  Between the two of us we almost have one good ear if we stay close together!  All those sexy, low pitched male voices are wasted on me.  How I used to love the sound of a soft southern drawl.  Homer has never heard the alarm clock, the beep of the microwave, the high pitched squeal of his own hearing aids, the beep of the smoke alarm or any other high pitched beeping noise like all those devises that beep at you when their batteries are low.

I have often wondered why, with all the amazing technical devices around these days (those smart phones can do almost anything) no one has ever been able to design a hearing aid that really works.  My hearing aids cost over $5000.00, I have to replace the batteries every three day, and I still can't hear.  The telephone is nearly impossible for me use with any degree of understanding.  I have gotten very good at nodding and smiling and bluffing my way though most situations, however, anyone who has had to be around me for very long soon realizes that I don't have a clue what they are talking about most of the time.

Anyone who is severely hearing impaired can tell you that it is extremely frustrating and the lack of ability to know what it being discussed around you often leads to anger or depression.  I can't go out to dinner with a group of friends and take part in the conversation, enjoy a stage show or a comedy routine and I have mostly given up on watching TV.  On the plus side, if anyone is talking about me behind my back I'll never know!  There are still people out there who will treat you as if you are stupid because you can't understand what they are saying.  That always generates some anger on my part.  Some people will cover their mouths with their hands when they speak, how can I read your lips if you do that!

Homer and I have great conversations.  He says What? and I say Huh?  but he has a great smile and when he smiles at me I feel good even if I don't know what he is saying.

To all you young people with the volume turned up full blast, take heed.  You will be here living in my silent world someday.

Where Did All The Years Go!

Homer & I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary this week. We received a beautiful email from our daughter that brought tears to my eyes. Over the years we have tried a lot of different things, made a lot of mistakes, managed to do a few things right and always viewed the past with a sense of humor.  (Sometimes the things that happen to you along the way don't seem funny at the time, but time and memory can change all that)  We have a lot of good memories to offset the not-so-great ones and always a love that has grown stronger over the years.  Most of our family is gone now, along with many of our good friends, but every day brings the promise of new friends to be made, new places to go, new challenges to face.  The years have gone by so fast.  I look forward to what the next year will bring!

Settling In

I haven't had a lot of time for blogging since I have been here in Baton Rouge.  I have been working 6 days a week so that only leaves one day for chores and shopping and not much time for anything else.  Starting next week we will be working 4 10 hr shifts and 1 8 hr shift.  We will still be working a 48 hr week, but we will have two days off.  That way we will have 1 day for chores, etc. and 1 day for fun and sightseeing.  I am really looking forward to a little relaxation.

This the second time the tournament has been held in Baton Rouge so we are looking forward to revisiting some of our favorite sites and finding new places to explore.  We have added another business site to our blog page.  I hope you will take a minute to check it out. 

I am trying out a Jambalaya recipe for dinner.  If it turns out good, I will share it with you.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Finally getting all settled into our apartment.  We are on the fifth floor and the view is beautiful.

It will be even nicer once the tree are leafed out again.

We are starting to relearn our way around, but we still get lost frequently. Getting lost can be fun and it is the best way I know to learn my way around.

We start work tomorrow and it will be good to see everyone again.  If we can find out way to work that is.  What did we ever do before GPS?   Even Gertie, our GPS voice, sometimes gets confused and we end up with one of those "I know where it is, but you can't get there from here" situations.

Baton Rouge Here We Come!

The car's all packed, gassed & ready to go (except for the computer....always the last thing to get packed!).  I am looking forward to seeing all my friends and co-workers.  I groused and complained, but I am really happy to be going back to work.

See you in a couple of days!

Time to Start Packing!

Well the holidays are over, my 75th birthday is past, and it is time to pack up and get back to work.  This year we will be working at the USBC (United States Bowling Congress) Open Champions Tournament in Baton Rouge, LA.  This will be our second time to work in Baton Rouge and our 14th year to work the Tournament.  It is always great to see all the rest of the traveling crew when we get back to work and we also hope to see some of the friends we made when we worked there in 2005.

We really did not expect to be going back to work this year.  We had decided to finally retire and stay home.....however, we are too young to retire!  We still have places to go and things to do before we drag out the rocking chairs.  The only regret I have is we moved to West Virginia right after we started to work so we have never had a chance to enjoy springtime at home.  Maybe next year.

On the plus side, we can continue to work on our own business via the internet and phones.  I am excited about the new Laundry Pure unit.  I have gotten used to washing my clothes in cold water with no soap or bleach.  I was skeptical the first time I tried it but it really works......fresh clean smelling clothes with no soap residue and no phosphates added to our water supply.  My only regret is I can't take the Laundry Pure unit with me to Baton Rouge.  However, I will be taking the Fresh Air Surround and the Living Water unit with me.

Our daughter, Wendy, house sits for us and takes care of all of the critters.  We will be gone until July and we will miss all of them.  We do chat with Wendy on the internet frequently and she keeps us up to date on all of their shenanigans.