TWO MONTHS OF LIFE ON LONG ISLAND – JULY/August 2025

ONE OF OUR LOCAL WILD TURKEYS

As usual, time is flying by quickly. We’ve been here two months already. Where should I begin this blog? I have so many different thoughts running through my mind. This one will consist of my random thoughts while keeping you updated on the status of our move.

Right now, we are experiencing a good old-fashioned East Coast afternoon thunderstorm. We’ve had some good ones since we’ve been here. Many at night. The weather has been a newsworthy item this week. Before this storm, we experienced a heat wave. They declare a heat wave once temperatures hit 90+ degrees three days in a row. It’s also marked by high humidity, which adds to the discomfort. If we're lucky, the rain comes in as part of a cold front, which cools things down and drops the temperatures into the 80s or less, making life comfortable again.

You may be wondering how we are settling in. We haven’t completely unpacked all our boxes. Some we may not unpack. We’ve downsized to a much smaller place, and we don’t have a garage like we did in Santa Fe. I’m sharing my office with many of those unpacked boxes.

One of the things that delayed us was the unexpected installation of a new heating and cooling system about two weeks after we moved in. This also included the installation of a tankless, instant hot water heating system. To complete the job, they had to make holes in our living room ceiling, laundry room, and mechanical room, so that a cable could be passed from the outside unit into the house. We were led to believe the finished carpenter would quickly follow up to repair the mess.

That didn’t happen right away. After a week or so, we got worried about the insulation hanging out of those holes. We weren’t going to unpack further because we anticipated more dust from the repair work. When I made management aware of the uncompleted work, they sent their maintenance team in to cover the holes with plastic and tape temporarily. Another month went by, and we found out the subcontractor hadn’t been notified about the situation. When they finally came in to fix the holes, there was more dust, and this time paint smears on the floor, but it looks nice, and the new systems are keeping us comfortable, and they are supposedly saving us money in the long term. The unpacking has once again begun.

As you may know, one of the reasons we moved here is for better healthcare. That has been a positive change. Anita and I have both been easily getting appointments and treatments for some of our medical problems. Our son-in-law, David, was instrumental in getting our new medical insurance secured. He is a medical insurance professional in the New York Metropolitan area. And yes, Anita has transitioned out of her Advantage plan and back into traditional Medicare and supplemental insurance, but that wasn’t cheap, and it's a considerable bump to our budget. We are so grateful to David and our daughter, Deb, who have done their best to make our move a smooth transition.

I took my first ride in an ambulance a couple of weeks ago and visited a Long Island hospital ER after tumbling out of bed in the middle of the night. In a deep sleep, I hit the hardwood floor with my face. Blood was gushing out of both nostrils. I was lucky it was only a bad bloody nose. I was X-rayed and CT-scanned, both of which came out negative, and I was discharged. Our Grandson, DJ, helped get Anita to the hospital and took us home afterwards. We couldn’t be more thankful for being around family.

I have since found a Physical Therapist who is treating my lower back and neck pain. So far, my lower back is pain-free, and my neck is improving with every treatment.

Getting our New York State license plates, driver’s license, and real ID for Anita was difficult and time-consuming. We tried to avoid the MVD and went to the AAA office, but encountered a problem with the effective date of our auto insurance policy. The requirement for people to acquire a Real ID clogged the MVD and AAA, causing them to impose a reservation system, which took weeks to get an appointment.

But now, that’s all behind us. There are still many little things that need to be done, and we will get to them in time. Moving at our age isn’t easy, but in our case, it was necessary. We are happy we made the move. One of my goals is to return to writing my novel, “Amore Di Napoli.” I abandoned it in January to spend time packing for this move. This blog is an effort to get my writing juices flowing again. Thanks for reading it.

My first novel, “Railway Avenue,” is now available as an audiobook. Here’s a link to it:

Amazon.com: RAILWAY AVENUE (Audible Audio Edition): Bob Puglisi, Independently Published, Virtual Voice: Books