The longer I live the more interest I have in life expectancy calculators. I played with them during my forties and fifties as a source of online amusement but, in my mid-sixties, this is serious business. Sure. These calculators produce only approximations, but they are based on statistical analyses. The actuarial analysts who create them are highly trained people who predict outcomes based on past history and math. They work for the...
The shimmering lines of fake mirage rose from the pavement ahead of us. It was still morning, but the temperature was already in the 90s without a cloud in the sky. Only rocks, scrub brush and cactus lined the highway on either side. The only other vehicles on the road were large trucks making their way between Bakersfield and Flagstaff and Albuquerque beyond. My husband had an interest in Citizens Band radios at that time so we had one in our...
When I moved in with my best friend I had no idea of the hell I would go through just to park my car. My friend’s condo had one space in the garage for her car. The few outside parking spaces were all assigned to other condos except for a couple of visitor spaces which were always full. The condos were built next to a mass transit center. The lack of extra parking was intentional and meant to discourage people from using cars. Instead, it was...
When my older two children were six and eight years old we lived across the street from child abusers. Well, I really never knew for sure if they were child abusers, but from all indications they were. The woman lived with her boyfriend in an old, rundown rental house in our old neighborhood of Southeast Portland called Montavilla. The walls of their home only held nude pictures of people in various poses. This seemed very strange since they...