Laughing with Di – October 2018

by Dianne Walker | Sep 26, 2018 | Gifts from the Heart

Picture this – a cartoon showing a large, stone wheel. Tied up on the wheel is a lizard. One caveman is speaking to another caveman. “Me call it meals on wheels.” The caption reads: In spite of early failures, the concept would eventually achieve success. (Source: Scott Hilburn)
This cartoon is on a wall in the Santa Clarita Senior Center. I went on a ride-along to Friendly Valley with one of the volunteers in the home-delivered meals program.
Let’s have a laugh……
Nissan generously provides 10 Cube cars that have proven to be the most cost-effective way to accommodate temperature-controlled meals. These “Cubes” look like some kind of NASA vehicle or an LEM on Mars. The food packages contain a wide variety of tasty, low-salt nutritious meals.
We’re locked, loaded and off we go. Some things we may encounter:
Cute but vicious attack Chihuahuas
Freshly baked cookies
Curious residents who want to know if you’ve run over someone in a cart?
Watch out for the ubiquitous scooters that just appear
There are 70 volunteer drivers; ten different routes; five days a week. Welcome to the maze … Google maps can’t find some of these locations! You maneuver on streets that weave in and out for miles!
Drivers develop a friendly rapport with people on their route and carry a clipboard with notes, i.e., knock, wait patiently; put food in fridge; hard of hearing; date of birth (a lady born in the 1920’s!). Bless her heart!
One street sign read: Yield to golfers! That says it all.
We arrive back at the ranch at 11:40, say goodbye to the bison on the rise and head home. Now, if you see a strange-looking, white “moon” vehicle with “Senior Center” on the side, give it the right-of-way. It is doing important stuff!

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