Marley & I

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I am very happy to report that I will be signing a one-year lease for my new digs next Friday, August 7th. I will be living in a two bedroom apartment at the Villas of Kettering, located directly behind Town & Country shopping center. After the first year it's a month by month rental so that will give me plenty of flexibilty.

It's a great unit surrounded by these marvelous trees (two monstrous 100+ year-old sycamores and a bunch of red maples). My place will be at the corner of a cul de sac which means even *more* trees than most of the units (yay!). It also has a garage (and a garage door opener no less - pretty unusual for apartment living I believe).

And here's the best part: they *do* have a "no pet" policy, but since it is a 55-years-old+ facility there is an exception for "service/quality of life" pets.

I told Rita, the property manager, about my sister's death and my cat Marley's role in helping me deal with that. She said that would absolutely qualify Marley to live with me (at no extra charge). All that the Marley-Man needs is a note from the doctor verifying his "therapeutic value." :-)








How freakin' sweet is that?

Old man Marley, in his 16th year (77 in human years), is about to become a "service" kitty!

"Hey Marley - fetch me a beer why doncha?!"

. . . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . . . . ."Bite me"

And speaking of "service" . . . apparently some of the tenants have trouble making it to appointments and stores for their basic needs. I already talked to the lovely ladies of the Villas front office (Rita, Mary, and Karen) about starting a transportation service to help folks get around. They said that a lot of the elderly women tenants are itching to check out that new high-falutin' fancy dan Kroger's "Fresh Fare" grocery store across Shroyer Avenue. :-)

Hey - why go looking for a volunteer service opportunity when you've got one to offer your neighbors?

My brother Tim already lives at the Villas and he has made friends with an 85-year-old woman named Joanie. Joanie is very active and recently had rotator cuff surgery so that she can start golfing again (Tim will probably caddy for her). Tim and Joanie are currently shuffleboard partners in a league at the Kettering Rec Center.

Joanie also showed Tim where there are several "breaks" in the fencing that separates the Villas from the Town and Country shopping center (as active as she is I'm surprised that she wasn't just scaling the fence). Apparently Tim was walking all the way to the end of the apartments and then into Town and Country until Joanie showed him this trick of livin' in "the 'hood."

Tim says that there is a break in the fence directly north of my place and so I'll probably have less than a city block to walk to get me to the front doors of Panera, the very yummy First Watch (Then Eat) restaurant, Trader Joe's grocery store, Books & Co., etc.

So keep your eyes peeled for ol' Kev Smith strolling through the Villas with his morning paper and a cup 'o joe (he'll be the one without the walker).

Give him a "honk" and I bet he'll wave. He's pretty nice for a depressed guy. I mean . . . once you get to know him.


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