Maybe best to be hoped for is to have a treaty that each has one quadrant of the galaxy (more or less) and each (more or less) avoids interference with the other's quadrant.

Of course, even then there are sometimes disputes in the Neutral Zone.....

I'm wondering whether it's worth feigning a terminal illness to get her accustomed to wearing her gardening dungarees and taking over the heavy chores as part of your 'palliative care' ? :)

Jack

No, the falsity of a terminal illness is too easily detected. Much better to complain that you've put your back out & are temporarily incapable. If you don't have one, buy and use a walking stick to lean on. Remember - no lifting & certainly not back-wrenching things like pulling the cord to start the mower.

Herb

:) well yes.. that could work... but what happens at bed-time..when one's feeling amorous.. after she's chopped the wood, mown the lawn, and built and varnished the new deck?--- there just may be a curt reminder as to one's spinal ambivalence, with an unsavory suggestion as to where to insert that walking stick

Jack

Yes, comparative youth could detract from the scheme's plausibiliy.

Herb.

AND, she refuses to call me Daimyo-Dave-san!

Now Dave - you're really asking for TOO much! ...I say, go for the 'suspected' cancer of the something approach - it's a foolproof strategy - for every libido. One can abrogate ALL responsibility in life, with the added promise of sympathy conjugals, or one's favourite boiled sweets..ie, if the former has degenerated into a pointless,clammy, exertion..

Nothing to sniff at...and don't forget the fringe benefits of being bathed and dressed everyday (another chore crossed off)

It's very attractive - what does it matter what she calls you?

Jack