Greetings again, phoggie/Mary. In my earlier post I appeared to be unaware of some info that you appeared to have posted a couple of hours earlier, so much of what I said was not useful. If you want to take a good portion of the things from your current home to furnish the one where you will live in future, I have a suggestion that might be relevant. Son's sister/my daughter moved from near Toronto, on the north side of Lake Ontario, to Phoenix a few years ago, and son and I were discussing yesterday the cost of moving her goods: I'd thought that it was something over a dollar a pound, and he said he thought closer to a dollar and a half ... ... so I suggested that we should have bought her an old school bus, then we could have packed it for her, she could have driven it down there, and sold it after getting her things moved into her new place. Or, if the rules governing licensing required really different criteria, buying one there and driving it up, loading it and driving it back. Perhaps you might be interested in buying an old school bus, packing your goods into it and driving it to Burlington. Then check with (former)/friends to try to find some farm or rural person nearby who'd rent you some space at nominal fee to park it for a time, until you have found a place to live on a permanent basis. When one considers the monthly/quarterly cost of renting a storage space (or annual - and which period does one choose, up-front?), using the school bus idea might not be such a bad idea. There'd be an additional benefit of handling all of the stuff twice instead of four times: saved effort (says a guy with a streak of laziness) and less possibility of damage/breakage. I'd thought of suggesting that, should the contract for sale of your current house fall through, that it might be a good idea to do some checking as to whether that arrangement had been satisfactory. But when I heard that your former husband's son was in a related business, I was fairly sure that he'd have been aware enough of the local housing market to have ensured that you weren't being taken. With regard to the lady who has the house that she's talking of sharing ... how about finding a reason, whether real or imagined/manufactured, to visit there for a few days, or, probably better, a week or so, so that you could stay at her place and get an idea of her lfestyle, including an idea, even if vague, of the financial end, and whether you might feel comfortable with it. ole joyfuelled ... who doesn't have to buy gas for a school bus P.s. I've been saying for some time that it makes sense for several singles, especially senior ones, to live together. Advantages: -intellectual stimulation helps keep Alzheimer's at bay, -shared chores would enable one to continue to live independently longer, -each person would eat better than tea and toast for some meals if living alone, -increased safety: if someone has immediate trauma, as long as one can call, there's someone there to help, plus -they could triage: decide whether we can handle this situation in-house; or we call this person's caregiver to handle the situation; or call 9-1-1- ... right now!, -there's be a major cost saving over buying a smaller home/condo, renting one's own apt., etc. ... and a major one over entering a residential home and certainly over a nursing home. That cost saving would enable them to afford to have someone come in to take care of much of the cleaning and housekeeping. o j ... who lives alone

Always have a great visit with Linda! We meet 2 or 3 times a year for lunch. Today, was the same. Great lunch, great visit. We tried a new restaurant, closer to her. I had fried oysters and Linda had fried chicken. Everything is cooked to order. Thanks ya'll for your interest.

Thank you for a lovely New Year gift, Rose. I, too, have met a number of KT friends in person and have enjoyed those visits and the people involved. One was to be near me and on the day that a bunch of old guys of a weekly coffee hour at church were to take their wives out to dinner to close off for summer, and I wasn't committing until I found that a gathering in town with several KT friends (instigated by Nita AZ) was at a time which wouldn't conflict ... ... and several couldn't understand how one could be so committed to a meeting with a cyber crew that one was willing to miss a special gathering of face-to-face folks to be with them. Good wishes go with a hope that you may have a gloriously happy, healthy and reasonably prosperous New Year, Rose, enjoyed with loved ones and friends. (((((Rose)))))

Happy New Year, All! We usually just hang out in front of the tv for the evening but our neighbors and their two girls came over as they are still waiting for their remodel to finish. We sure had a good time. Thankfully the only thing we have to do today is take down the outdoor lights as we did the rest yesterday.