Monday, August 22, 2011

Chicken Little

There's a woman on our block who is so negative, she can suck all the air out of a room in 60 seconds flat. Craig's nicknamed her the Buzz Kill!

We were on our second lap around the neighborhood circle yesterday when she came running d0wn the street to greet us. She wanted to let us know that our central air units on our houses are going to implode very soon. Two years max! (The houses on our street are not quite five years old.) If I didn't know any better, I would have been alarmed and believed her hook, line, and sinker, but I think we've met before?

After that good news, she then launched into her wash machine and dryer that she's having to replace after four years, and that somehow reminded her of -- Obamacare! Of course it did!

Oh God, here we go again . . . . I've heard many things from her like-minded friends in the neighborhood who also like to rant to strangers about it, but she had gleaned a new fact for us. Under the new healthcare bill, Medicare won't pay for any cancer treatment for anyone over the age of 72! I guess on the Fox News timeline, the denied cancer treatment falls right before Obama sends us to the Death Committee that enrolls us for automatic euthanasia at the age of 75?

Craig and I's eyes glazed over as Chicken Little continued her Obamacare rant. Fox is obviously gearing up for the 2012 elections! I have to add, she and the husband are both over 65 and have supplemental insurance, so they're in the wonder years compared to some of us Baby Boomers trapped in the post-career/pre-Medicare years where we're basically paying Cobra rates for our own lousy health insurance coverage.

Craig and I were both trying to pedal on down the street when she spewed out her next line -- You would know I'd be the one person in my family to live past their 50's!

Okay, it's not funny but it is! That, in a nutshell, epitomizes her entire outlook on life. That whole getting up in the morning and having to breathe breathe breathe thing is just such a bitch! Repeat after me dear -- life is good, life is good, life is good!

Friends of mine always joke about how the goal is NOT to get to know your neighbors! I see their point since we just witnessed Exhibit A!

I guess the moral of the story is . . . pedal faster! (And on that note, I'm off to take my bike ride before Buzz Kill wakes up!)



This tale of my friendly neighbor reminds me of this Isla sourpuss!











8 comments:

drgeo said...

Your neighbor sounds like she might need a surge protector for her appliances. And perhaps for that helmet she wears.

Life's a Beach! said...

drgeo, LOL! Cancel the surge protector for her helmet. Shock treatments might help! Hope I didn't come off too harsh. We get a good laugh everytime we encounter her. She's the voice of doom!

jeanie said...

Harsh???? I would avoid that woman like the plague!

krisla said...

I worry about an AZ 'perspective on politics, which I worry is infecting my brother, through his proximity to aging neighbors in his Mesa retirement cmmty... glad you seem immune to that!!

Janet said...

All I can say is YIKES!!!!

Anonymous said...

Uffff - people like that drive me crazy!

Jeanne

Life's a Beach! said...

jeanie, we've avoided breaking bread with them. Kris, I noticed one friend in particular starting to swing toward the nuts, but it'll never happen in our household. We lived in the Northwest for 20 years. I also think spending time on Isla (or any foreign country) widens one's worldview. More than a few neighbors here make fun of our travels to Mexico. Let them laugh. They're clueless as to what they're missing.

Kay said...

Sounds like she's been wearing her tinfoil bonnet out in the sun too long.