As of this morning, I’m renaming Mr. Grey Fuzzy Pants (a descriptive — but really dumb name) to Mikey. Or perhaps Miguel since I’m in Costa Rica now! (Which makes Charli a Carli and me a “Crease”! Ain’t that a kick — or a crease — in the pants?!)
“MGFP to Mikey — WHY?” You May Ask!
If you’re as old as I am — or even half as old ( I hope!) — you may remember this commercial about a young boy named Mikey whose slightly older brothers tried foisting LIFE cereal off on him to see if he would eat it. Much to their surprise, Mikey — a notoriously picky eater — liked it!
Now, MY newly renamed Mikey is NOT a picky eater. As it turns out, Charli is, at least when it comes to dry cat food. She won’t touch any of the brands I’ve tried to get her to eat down here.
So, this morning, after giving Mikey a few morsels of Charli’s wet cat food, I tried offering him some of the dry cat food that has been sitting around here in their original bags for three or four weeks to see if he would turn his nose up at them, too…
NOPE! Mikey likes it! He really likes it!
So now I’m glad I didn’t throw them away. I was just about to. MIKEY TO THE RESCUE!!! And I can get it for Mikey and save the more expensive stuff for Charli.
Not that Mikey is Hurting for More Food!
He let me pick him up this morning. He’s a tank! Not overweight, just MASSIVE under that beautiful grey coat. He has to weigh 20 pounds. Seriously! What a surprise that was to me! Charli feels like a small lightweight decorative pillow compared to him…
And yes, Charli’s nose is out of joint because I have consorted with the enemy. I have promised her he will not be allowed into the casita, but she’s pouting anyway. She wants to be Queen Bee around here. She is and always will be.
I really do have to limit my time with Mikey, unless they decide to become friends when they’re both out and about. But Mikey gives her a wide berth because her banshee routine and bull-like rushes have convinced him she’s hell on wheels. God knows what would happen if he ever just sat there and let her get within reach. We will probably never know, because Mikey isn’t going to let that happen. He’s a big pussy when he’s confronted!
In Other News…
I continue to be amazed by how changing my diet to a more Costa Rican based lifestyle has improved my wellbeing. Every morning at about 6 a.m., I create a concoction of rice, refried beans, mushrooms, lettuce, nuts and a wee bit of cheese and butter. I microwave the rice, butter and refried beans and then mix in the rest of the ingredients and enjoy half of a small bowl of it. I wash it down with water, or a hydrating liquid, or a cup of hot cocoa (the cocoa down here is different, fortified, good for you, and tastes great) and that small meal carries me through to about eleven or so. I haven’t gained or lost an ounce. I stay at 155, which must be pretty close to my baseline for someone with my musculature and bone density. (I grew up on a ranch doing physical labor and my bones feel almost twice the size and density of my two sisters.)
I don’t miss the junk I was eating up north
I do sometimes splurge when I’m at a soda (Tico-owned restaurant) and get a Coca Cola, and when I walk to the mini mart up the hill (about once a week) I buy a liter sized bottle of sarsaparilla. But those are my only guilty pleasures. Otherwise, I stick to the straight and narrrow and am feeling sooo much better for it. No heart palpitations, no leg cramps, no dizziness… I didn’t realize how much better I was capable of feeling. I thought I felt pretty darned good up north! And I did — for up north!
I don’t miss the Pacific Northwest weather
The weather here is variable enough right now that I don’t miss the thought of missing out on autumn, winter or spring in the Pacific NW. The temperature here hovers between 68 and 82 year-’round. With the accompanying humidity, that range can feel almost chilly or like 92 degrees, but that temperature range is certainly surviveable… and from day to night, the temps drop so that sleeping is always comfortable.
I was already well beyond “enjoying” Pacific NW winters (and the seriously shortened daylight hours) when I got down here. In fact, I loathed last winter, and it wasn’t even all that bad. I’ve lost so much weight since COVID — about 70 pounds — that there isn’t enough fat on my frame to keep me warm, so the coldness went right through my flesh to my bones. I was sooooo over feeling that way ever again!
Sunrise and sunset vary here, from summer to winter (the two seasons here), by all of a half hour this close to the equator, so there is no Daylight Saving Time here and every daybreak/sunrise and sunset/nightfall is entirely predictable. And since I’m part bear, when the sun goes down between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. I go into hibernation mode, turn out the lights, and go to sleep .. or I will read in bed if I’m not ready for sleep until I am.
Retirement for Me is All About THIS Down Here!
My small — but now entirely adequate — Social Security check is all I need here. I don’t need to be worrying about “What can happen to make my life unsustainble down here?” except, of course, for the GOP and T-WRECKS’ wrecking balls, which seem to be moving ever-closer to gutting Social Security! (According to conventional wisdom, whatever they do to f— it up won’t affect current retirees, but is conventional wisdom even applicable these days? And it isn’t just me and my cohorts I’m thinking about, but future generations as well, even though I don’t have any kids!)
A car repair bill? Nope! No car!
A health crisis? Nope! I’ll have CAJA when I get my pensionado residency papers in a year or so, and in the meantime I have enough coverage (and existing income) to take care of routine stuff like blood draws and occasional kidney checks.
My rental is just $750/month, all utilities included. My food bill (including weekly get togethers with my Costa Rica family) is consiiderably under $100/week, which is well within my means down here.
Just not having to worry about outliving my savings is a huge load off my mind. I’m saving money living down here, something on the order of $500/month. Instead of praying that my savings account will last until I croak, I am able to add to it every month, something that was unthinkable up north after my copywriting business went away following the massive rollout of AI a few years ago. As soon as that happened, I knew I had to make Other Plans.
COSTA RICA — PURA VIDA INDEED!
And here I am, living them out, in a land that renews, refreshes and inspires me. My sense of humor has come flooding back. I wake up laughing on some nights after having “written” something while dreaming that tickled my funny bone.
It’s just amazing at what reaching for something new, something sublime, can do for a person who has felt beleaguered in numerous ways for so long.
I am beleaguered no more!
Pura vida!