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Moving on

Hello friends,

I’ve decided to shut down Retirement Confidential. I’ve enjoyed sharing this space with you, and I’ve learned a lot from your insights. Thank you for being part of my blogging journey.

As it happens, I love my life but no longer feel the need or desire to write about it. There’s something to be said for just enjoying the moment, and that’s what I plan to do. I may try my hand at other writing projects. Or maybe not. We’ll see what happens.

Again, thanks for all your support!

Donna

Is that your outside voice?

Number 38

So, gosh, politics. I understand nothing. Not to go all MAGA on you, but in some ways, I’m glad I don’t even have to pretend I’m intelligent anymore. One of the many joys of retirement. You can be dumb or play dumb, and no one cares.

When I was working as a communications professional for a big corporation, we interacted with all kinds of people in and outside of the company, and no matter what, you had to say the right thing … informed but ambiguous, direct but nonconfrontational, sincere but aloof. Seriously, it’s an art form.

You also had to be careful with your colleagues, because you never knew who was in a position to offer an opinion about your future.

Oh, Beatrice. She’s certainly competent, but some are saying she lacks executive presence.

John’s a great guy, but he needs a few more years to sharpen his soft skills.

Which brings me to Bud Light. Sales are down because the company featured a transgender woman in an advertising campaign. An acquaintance asked me what I thought. You can see how my responses have evolved since I retired, and my inside voice morphed into my outside voice.  

Old

I respect the right to boycott as an expression of your personal beliefs, and at the same time, it’s my hope that people can come together and appreciate our differences.

New

It’s bullshit. Why do you care who’s transgender and who isn’t? Maybe they would like me instead? Gray, grumpy, opinionated, post-menopausal. #dreamgirls. And, oh, by the way, I’ll be drinking extra Bud Light just because I’m pissed off, and someone has to do it.

Here’s another example. I’m sort of looking for a new car. No rush, but it’s on the horizon. I’ve been thinking about an electric car and ruled out Tesla. A friend asked me why.

Old

I’m seeing a lot of innovation at Tesla, but I’m just a little concerned about quality as production ramps up.

New

Because I despise Elon Musk, and I’m not buying a fucking Tesla.

Or you can just keep your mouth shut. That works, too.

On the bright side, we got a new coffee maker. When the old one went on the fritz, I did my usual hunter-gatherer thing and read every single review of every single coffee pot made in this century. I’m attracted to bells and whistles … perhaps the BeanMaster 5000 … but came up empty-handed.

Dale, on the other hand, happened to be in Target and saw a coffee pot that looked almost exactly like the one we have.

And just like that, done. Why is everything so easy for him?

Life between medical appointments

I was about to say this has been the coolest summer I’ve spent in California, but technically, it’s not summer yet. Hmmm. I told you spring was trouble.

Sometimes it does feel like getting older is about what happens between medical appointments. And I’m healthy!

Dale and I got the latest Covid booster and both doses of the Shingles vaccine. My wrist appointment was last week, and I’ll get to that, but I had a little skin scare in the meantime. And I’m not talking about the routine scary stuff you see in the magnifying mirror.

For the record, I go to the dermatologist every two years for a full body exam. At my last check-up, I had a small scaly patch above my left ear just at the hairline. Hard to even see. The doctor said it was nothing. But then a few weeks ago, it got thicker and uglier, and I was terrified.

I had to wait weeks. Just enough time for me to imagine strike three on the cancer front. I had already decided I wasn’t afraid to have half my face carved off as long as it wasn’t cancerous. Anyway, as the doctor previously said, it was nothing. Or benign keratosis, which passes for nothing one presumes.

The physician’s assistant zapped it with the freezer gun before I could say boo. Seriously, it went down like a shootout at the O.K. Corral. There was an unattractive scab, but it’s pretty much gone now.

She said never think you’re going to look stupid for getting something checked out. Just do it. Good advice for all of us.

As for the wrists. I broke both of them in 2012 when I fell off my bicycle. The right one was in a cast, but we didn’t know I broke the left one, too, so it didn’t heal properly. That said, it’s my right one that hurts the most. But it’s a sporadic thing, depending on how I choose to abuse myself.

Golf and swimming aren’t problematic, but some of that yoga I experimented with back in the fall was not good. Hyperextension is the killer. That’s like downward dog and planks, which I hate anyway. I know now not to do that, but as per usual, I had to learn the hard way, and it took months to recover.

I had seen this ortho about four years ago, so we could compare old x-rays to new ones. He said I have mild arthritis resulting from the old injuries, but it hasn’t progressed much at all. The only new thing was arthritis in my right thumb.

Thumb arthritis! Who knew?

That’s my phone scrolling thumb, which gets quite a workout with all my games and puzzles. They always ask if this is a work-related injury, but I guess they don’t care if it’s a retirement-related injury. No retirees compensation fund.

The doc said I don’t need to stop playing but try to hold the phone in my left palm and use my right forefinger to play. He said I might feel better using a thumb splint, but the one he recommended is $100, so I’m going to wait and see if my behavioral modifications make a difference.

Other than that, he said do what I want, avoid hyperextension.

In other news, my 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid just went over 100,000 miles. For its age, that’s relatively low mileage, but I commuted by bus for four-plus years, so it spent a lot of time in my garage. Anyway, I’m on the fence about getting a new car. I like this one just fine and am hoping it will go another 50,000 miles at least. I drive like an old lady and have always kept up with maintenance, so there’s a good chance it will hang in there.

While I have money set aside for a new car, the timing is terrible. Aside from shortages and astronomical dealer markups, there’s the question of whether to go electric. Even if I do, I’d like more time to see how the market shakes out. Personally, I like the plug-in hybrids, but there are mixed reviews and even with that, none of the dealers I’ve visited even have them on the lots.

We weren’t Costco members because we shop at a military commissary, but for $60 bucks a year, I decided to join and can take advantage of their auto purchase program. I got a very nice email from them updating me on shortages.

One of the cars I’m interested in is the hybrid 2023 Honda Accord EX-L. There were none on the lot when I visited, but later I contacted them through the Costco program, and a sales rep let me know one is in transit, expecting to arrive in July. Wait and see. And I will definitely wait rather than pay a ridiculous dealer markup.

All that to say, I’m tired of thinking about it for now.  So, I’m back at square one. I’ve scheduled the 100,000 mile tune-up for the Fusion and will hope for the best.

On the entertainment front, I made a list (the magic elixir of peace and serenity) of my fixed entertainment costs and online subscriptions, and they actually don’t add up to as much as I thought. Roughly 10 percent of my Social Security check, and that includes the annual fee I pay for unlimited golf!

I did a free trial of Apple TV+ and am keeping it for now. That’s $6.99 a month. I’ve enjoyed High Desert with Patricia Arquette. Where has she been all my life? I particularly love that she has crooked teeth and never got them fixed. My role model.

Next on the list is Slow Horses.

High school. Has it really been 50 years?

The weather is turning gnarly, so I visited the library to load up on mystery novels. I keep telling myself to act like a big girl and read something literary, and occasionally I do, but inevitably I return to my low-brow life of crime.

One might say I’m attracted to the simple and seedy. I grew up in an underfunded and dysfunctional working class family. Certainly, I read my share of literature in school and later, after I hit escape velocity, but it’s not like we sat around the kitchen table discussing Finnegans Wake.

My dad read sleazy pulp fiction, and my mother enjoyed her True Detective magazine. Not saying I didn’t sneak a peek at their reading material from time to time. We children may wander, but sometimes it seems all roads lead back to the source.

I’ve been thinking about connections to the past since I was contacted by two friends I haven’t heard from in decades. They found me through the blog to reach out regarding our 50th high school reunion in Southern California. I haven’t attended any of the previous reunions and can’t imagine going to one, but I was pleased to hear from them just the same.

Both live in California. I joined the military after high school, and most of my friends went to college here. A few went to out-of-state universities, but I’m pretty sure they all came home after graduation. I also returned … 40 years later. Let’s just say it was a circuitous route.

One of my old friends lives in Santa Barbara, so we caught up via telephone. It was a great conversation, and I’m really happy we took the time to share our stories with each other. I always thought she had her shit together, and she always thought I did, so it was fun to confess neither one of us had a clue.

My other friend lives closer, and we’re going to meet in the middle for lunch next week. I’m looking forward to it! Socially speaking, I do better one-on-one or in small groups, as opposed to hanging out with a couple hundred people I barely remember at some sort of party venue. So, lunch. This is good.

What are your experiences with reunions? Do tell! It will be like a Clint Eastwood movie. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Not messing with my face

I’ve been thinking about Madonna’s face, and I’m guessing that’s exactly what she wanted. Famous people accustomed to the limelight can’t seem to give it up, so why not just maim yourself to get everyone talking? I don’t believe it has anything to do with ageism. I mean, she doesn’t look younger, only worse, but at least she’s in the headlines again.

Personally, I’m more focused on healthy habits and creature comforts than messing with my aging face. Do I sometimes do a little mirror surgery to see what I’d look like with everything tightened right up? Sure, but that’s not how I want to go down.

For example, I went to the dermatologist yesterday and actually had to put on real clothes. Black leggings, black t-shirt, black denim jacket, white sneakers, turquoise earrings, no makeup and a shock of silver hair. I must admit, I looked in the mirror and thought, damn, I look cool.

As I see it, you can dye your hair and inject your face, and that might create the illusion of youth, but I’m pretty sure they know how old we are. My thinking is that silence is a position of weakness, and being silent erodes confidence over time. I refuse to cower.

Aging should be a liberating experience. Wear what you want, say what you think, live how you like and like how you look – perhaps it is the absence of these things that makes aging such a drag for so many people.

But not us! We’re digging it, right?

So, the latest in retirement creature comforts – linen sheets. I mean, if you can afford this, do it before you die. I bought mine here. I can’t quite describe the comfort – soft but not silky. Not warm, not cool. The fabric feels heavier, but air flows through it. Dale preferred silky cotton, but he’s converted now. There’s no turning back for me.

Another indulgence I started this year is a 90-minute full-body massage every three weeks.  I love it. Yes, even though it does hurt a bit when she digs into those trigger points. The pain kind of scared me at first. I thought she had uncovered some sort of rare muscle-wasting disease, and I almost quit going because I thought, well, better not to know.

But now, I just breathe my way through it and it starts to feel good. Aside from the pure pleasure of having my creaky old body tended to, I do think massage is nothing but good news for your immune system, and it helps with stress, circulation, muscle pain and flexibility.

So, back to aging faces. I love the artist Jesse Dayton, and I am absolutely crazy about this reboot of Brand New Cadillac with Samantha Fish. Check out the drummer!

Old and cool. Inspiration for us all.

A bridge lesson

I was invited by one of the women in my golf group to participate in a series of beginner bridge lessons in her home, and I thought why not? They say this complex card game is especially good for the aging brain. It seems to me anything that might help us dodge dementia is a good thing. I’m retired. I’ve got the time.

Today was my first lesson, and that’s an hour and a half I’ll never get back.

Perhaps I should have known. When I told Dale, he reminded me math was involved. While it’s true I picked journalism as a major because it was about the only degree that didn’t require even the most rudimentary of math skills, I thought, well, it’s a card game. How hard can it be?

Many of you probably know this already, but it’s damned hard. I won’t even go into the complexities I tried to absorb during this first lesson, but it reminded me of high school geometry, when the teacher spent an entire semester saying, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

Because that’s what it sounded like to me.

The bridge instructor scheduled an indefinite number of lessons every Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Not bad, but not good for the retirement practice I subscribe to called, “The Slow Start.” But you know, staving off dementia, I guess I could move out faster for a good cause. Also, Thursdays at 10 is my preferred time for massages, and one must have priorities.

On the plus side, I wore jeans and my old Lucchese cowboy boots, which I haven’t done in a couple of years. At least I looked cute, and that takes a few brain cells, doesn’t it?

Bridge is interesting, and I can totally see the attraction. I generally like games. I really liked this group of women. If they had a Yahtzee league, I’m all in. I used to play Hearts back in the day, and that didn’t kill me. Backgammon. Scrabble.

But bridge, wow. I’m 67, reasonably intelligent and in excellent health. However, I don’t think I have enough time left to understand this game.

Even without the card counting and all that, there are all kinds of weird things including where you sit and what cards you play – north, south, east and west. What’s so wrong about left and right?

Sometimes your partner will show all their cards, and you play those, too. Like one hand wasn’t enough. And all these little codes to signal your partner how you want to bid. If everyone subscribes to the same convention, why not just say it in plain English? I have five spades!

I didn’t want to disappoint my friends, but I also didn’t want to pretend I’d come back when I knew it was a lost cause. While I acknowledge some stress is good for you, this is the kind of stress that makes me miserable. Rather than drag it out, I just laid it out for them. They were gracious, but now they have to find a replacement, which sucks for them.

When I got home, I told Dale he was right. Numbers gone wild! Crazy stuff! And all my Thursdays eaten up just to learn the basics? I’m pretty sure I would start dreading Thursdays, finding excuses to stay in bed, when in fact it’s a rather pleasant day of the week that has done me no previous harm.

He said, “So, you’re saying it was a bridge too far?”

The man’s still got it. 

All this is good news for those of you who enjoy reading my blog. I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks, and I had been thinking, maybe I’ll just quit writing. But that’s looking like a bad strategy now that I know bridge isn’t going to save me.   

I promised the bridge gods I would work harder at writing if they would just leave me alone.

Cats in high places

Mr. High and Mighty.

Cat food-powered entertainment centers

Usually on Saturdays I run my robot vacuum cleaner downstairs. There are a couple of footstools I stow out of the way, but I’ve never bothered to move the breakfast area chairs. This morning I noticed the floor was kind of messy where we eat, so I put the chairs up on the counter and the table to give the robot full access to said mess.

Well, it was a bonus day for Riley, our cat. Dale and I went to the grocery store while Robo was working hard, and when we returned, there was Riley, Mr. High and Mighty, resting happily in the chair. Cats are so funny. Dale calls them cat food-powered entertainment centers.   

Two shots, same arm, same day

We got our Covid boosters and flu shots. Same arm, same day. Dale said his arm hurt, and he didn’t sleep well. My arm didn’t hurt too much, but I had my usual fever and chills following the flu shot. It’s just something I get. I used to premedicate with Tylenol three days prior, and that fixed it, but they don’t like you to premedicate with Covid shots, so I stopped doing it.

I like getting it all over at once, otherwise I could just space them out and premedicate again. But it’s only for a few hours while I’m sleeping. Still, it was a rough night, and I was pretty whipped first thing in the morning. By lunchtime, I felt OK, and today I feel GREAT.

Feeling so much better is like the opposite of yesterday, and it reminds me of that quote, “I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.”

Technology Upgrade

I love technology for the most part, but I hate this constant need to upgrade. My 2016 Kindle Fire has been misbehaving, so I finally caved and bought a new one. It was actually cheaper.

Here’s the rub. I ordered it this morning, and it arrived a few hours later. I mean, I’m not sure Jeff Bezos needs all that money, but damn, that’s pretty slick. I should also give him credit for free shipping both ways. For me, that was a game-changer. Although, I’m just going to say it. I hate Alexa, so no points there.

I just disabled her on my new Fire. That felt good.

Interesting credit card fraud

I was paying my credit card bill and reviewing charges when I saw a $175 purchase from Etsy and a $175 credit from Etsy. Now that’s interesting.

For the record, I have not been shopping on Etsy. But the credit? What’s up with that? I called my bank, and they said it was rather odd. I wondered if the criminals were somehow testing it? Anyway, I had to get a new credit card (again) and re-do all my autopays. I hate that.

However, I did learn one thing. They said it would take 7-10 business days, and I asked, “Is there anyway to expedite that?” And they said sure! I received my new card the next day. Lesson learned. Ask for what you want.

Men without hats

He wasn’t doing the safety dance, but when Dale and I were leaving for the grocery store, he put on his running hat, and I don’t know what made me notice it all of the sudden, but it is disgusting. I lovingly mentioned this to him, and he said when he was visiting his sister in August, she wanted to throw it away.

That made me laugh, so I texted his sister, and she said their other sister just threw her husband’s hat away and made him wear a new one. Clean hat? It’s not that hard.

I’ll close by wishing all the best to our friends in Florida and along the Eastern Seaboard. Ian is a monster. I will confess I briefly wished Ian would make landfall in Lindsey Graham’s backyard. You know, since it bypassed Mar-a-Lago? But then my better self took over, and I just kind of went with a general request for world peace and everyone’s safety.  

Replacing old stuff

I came home from golf the other day, and there was a brand-new garden hose sitting idly on the front porch. Hmmm, I thought, I wonder what that’s all about.

Then I looked to the side of the driveway and spotted one of the bladders to our waterbed. Oh, this can’t be good, I said to myself.

It seems Dale woke up with a wet butt, assumed it was a leak in the waterbed and didn’t tell me, because he didn’t want to mess up my golf plans. What a guy! He drained the leaky bladder and managed to drag it downstairs, although he said it was quite the ordeal.

We’ve been talking about replacing the waterbed for a couple of years now. No time like the present. I tend to research and overthink everything, and I did not want to go that route this time around. Our guest room has a nice Beautyrest mattress we both tested to our satisfaction, so that’s what we went with for the master. While making the purchase, we had to decide between standard height box springs or low profile. Standard sounded good to us.

The bed is fantastic, but we didn’t realize standard box springs are nine inches thick. No big deal, except the bed is kind of up there now. At first, I didn’t like the looks of it, but I actually prefer getting in and out of the higher bed. It’s easier on my back.

However, our nightstands are hobbit-sized. It’s weird to reach over for something, and the reading light needs to be raised. A book on the floor is unreachable. Dale decided he likes the higher bed as well, so we’re looking at other solutions. I’ve been eying up bedside caddies that hold books, electronic devices and such.

Taller nightstands are probably going to happen as well. Ours are more than 30 years old and not in the best of shape. I looked online and can pretty easily get what we need, but I don’t want a wobbly nightstand and have been wondering if we should buy something from an actual furniture store, assuming they still exist.

The question, dear reader, is about quality. We hang onto everything as long as we possibly can and only replace when we absolutely have to. Some of our older furniture is well-made and has been hanging around more than 40 years … old and beat up, but hanging tough. Sounds like us!

We also have a few unique pieces bordering on junk that have lasted just as long. So, who knows? More recent additions are internet purchases from discount places – mostly shelves and stools. Quality varies, but it’s relatively cheap stuff, and we like it just fine.

However, we have been known to drop money on fancy kitchen essentials … pots, pans, knives. But that’s because we are passionate about cooking. We also enjoy our Ekornes Stressless chairs, which are outrageously expensive and worth every penny. Because we are passionate about sitting comfortably every single day.

For us, this isn’t about style or status. It’s more of a philosophical question. Does quality even exist anymore? Is it worth paying for? Always or just sometimes? Is cheap ever good enough?

It’s rather macabre, but I think about our mortality. As my 85-year-old golf buddy jokes, he doesn’t even buy green bananas anymore. Do your priorities change when you realize this thing might outlive you?

Our stuff will go to an estate sale when we die, and charities and/or surviving family members will inherit our assets. I don’t see the point in spending big bucks on a nightstand.

I’m thinking cheap but sturdy, serviceable and not hideous. Doable or easier said than done?

Do you need a vacation calibration?

Mendocino Headlands State Park
Navarro Vineyards

We’re back from our trip to Mendocino, and as it happens, the weather was cold and rainy. We were forced to take shelter in a winery, where one can stay until the Pinot’s gone weather clears.

The scenery in Mendocino is spectacular. We hiked around Mendocino Headlands State Park and visited two wineries. As you may know, Dale and I live in great wine country, but the Anderson Valley specializes in wines that are not typically grown near us. That’s how we ended up with two cases of wine – a mix of Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Noir.

The obligatory difference of opinion between us lovebirds came down to whether we should leave the wine in the car overnight. I’m thinking several hundred dollars in wine – take it up to the room in case someone decides to smash and grab.

Dale’s thinking that’s way too much work. Take a chance.

Granted, our room was in an old house with narrow steps. And we are not as young and hearty as we once were. Dale finally agreed and carried our first case up. He was almost to the top, when he stumbled, but he righted the ship pretty well, saved the wine and only got a scrape on his knee.

He was annoyed because he saw no reason why the wine couldn’t have stayed in the car. But my little brain was working overtime, and I said, hey, I have an idea! My suitcase was a sturdy tote with a thick shoulder strap. What if I emptied it out, we put some of the bottles in the bag and shuttled the wine up in shifts?

And that is what we did. Kind of pathetic, but even Dale said it worked out pretty well. Of course, we had to shuttle it back to the car this morning, but downhill was way easier.

We were mostly disappointed in the food. But then we almost always are. Back in our globe-trotting days, we ate some pretty amazing meals. And these days, we are good cooks with impossibly high standards. We ate at a pub one night – our first dinner out since the pandemic! Mediocre fish and chips. So sad when you know how good it can be.

The second night we ate at a fancy place. We both got duck for an entrée, and it was cooked to perfection, but they used five spice seasoning, and I think it overpowered the duck. It just didn’t taste ducky enough for us. They served it with sautéed Swiss chard, which I love, but I didn’t think it was a good pairing.

All in all, we had a fine time, and we’re glad we went, but there’s some room for improvement. For many retirees, travel is their main mission, and they’re good at it. If that’s you, please feel free to skip this next part. But if you’re like us, homebodies with only a moderate itch to travel, you might benefit from what I’m calling a vacation calibration.

When we were younger, we were avid scuba divers. Most of our vacations were at Caribbean beach resorts. We don’t dive anymore, so the beach is less alluring. Yet we keep heading there, partly because that’s what we’ve always done. We do love the ocean vistas and great seafood, but this trip poked a hole in the seafood-is-better-at-the-beach theory.

I also used to be happy just hanging around the pool reading, because it was the opposite of work. Now I can stay home, hang around the pool and read whenever I want. I certainly don’t want to waste time and money to veg in the sun.

Food is a big attraction, but there’s the disappointment factor. I thought, what if we were just so damned hungry, that perfect food wasn’t the objective? What if all we need is something like a burger and a beer, which you can get about anywhere. And that led me to the idea that hiking might be a better focus for our trips. Work out hard, get cleaned up, eat, drink, crawl back to clean dry room and repeat?

That’s pretty much what we did when we were diving, but maybe at this stage of our lives we’re mountain people.

Dale reminded me that we loved Santa Fe, N.M. Plenty of hiking, interesting historical artifacts, great museums and delicious food. All the restaurants within an easy walk of the hotel. There must be more places like that!

So that’s my mission, should I choose to accept it. Continue with the vacation calibration and find a better fit for our changing expectations. While this trip wasn’t perfect, look at the pictures! I mean, how bad could it be?

Give a robot a chance

After we got the engineered hardwood flooring installed downstairs, I read the most important care tip is to keep it vacuumed. Although I’ve so far resisted the siren call of home cleaning services, I decided to give a robot a chance. 

Warning. This is not for people who are on a tight budget. While prices vary considerably, our floor guy said not to get a cheap one … they aren’t worth the money.

We got the iRobot Roomba i7+. I purchased it online from Lowe’s. With tax, total cost was $803.30. It’s kind of a shocker, but I get a rebate from online purchases on my credit card, so it’s not all bad. This model creates a smart map of your home so you can target specific areas without having the robot vacuum the whole house.

Robo, as we call him, is self-emptying. When he’s done with a job, you hear a giant whirl and the dirt, dust and cat hair go into a tower at the docking station lined with a bag you only have to change once a month or even less. The sound is loud, but it’s just for a few seconds.

I loves him. He had to do several tours of the whole house to map it out, but then I was able to go into the app and customize it. The rooms are labeled, so I can tell him to just vacuum the kitchen and breakfast area, which is where we make most of the mess.

When Robo does the whole house, he usually has to go back to the docking station to recharge. Then he’ll finish the job after he’s all juiced up. He really does a great job, and I almost want to give him a tip!

The hardwood floors are perfect for Robo. We only have two area rugs. One is a flokati, and I’m probably going to program Robo to skip him. He doesn’t get stuck or anything, but I’m not sure it makes a difference. The other rug is a tighter weave, and Riley, our cat, loves to hang out there. He is a long-haired cat and very fluffy. It has always been hard to get the cat hair off.

Robo kind of stirs up the cat hair on the rug and leaves it in clumps. It’s an improvement but not a solution. We’d be better off without any rugs, but we like it, and most importantly, Riley likes it. I just have to go back with the regular vacuum periodically to get the rest of the cat hair.

I mainly wanted Robo to help maintain the hardwood floors. Upstairs is carpeted, except for the bathrooms. Robo could map the whole upstairs, too, and he has a feature that supposedly will keep him from falling down the stairs. But at $800, I’m looking for a sure thing. I could create a keep-out zone, but only after he maps the area, so I’d have to watch and make sure he doesn’t get to the stairs.

While I may eventually go that route, for now, I put him in a room, press the “clean” button and close the door. The smaller rooms are easy because he doesn’t fill up the bin or run out of juice. Our master area is bigger, and both scenarios are possible. When I hear him quit, I take him back to the docking station and let him empty the bin and recharge.

I’m impressed. It’s amazing how much cat hair he manages to find. I even love the vacuum tracks on the carpet!

I hesitated to share my experience with the robot vac because I know not everyone has an extra $800 to burn. But if you do have some spare change, so far, I think it’s a retiree’s best friend. The house is cleaner, and it’s easier on your body … leaving you with more time to have fun!