I’ve read about it; I’ve seen it in movies; I’ve seen it demonstrated in a classroom – now there’s an iffy use for tax/tuition money. The idea is to list the pros of a decision or action on in one column and the cons in another. The reason for it is obvious; it’s commonsense. I suppose a lot of people don’t do it because they don’t want to see written out in front of their face the truth of the matter. They have this really stupid urge to jump into the fire our of their warm frying pan and they don’t want to have another hurdle between them and doing what they want to do.

However, this afternoon, I sat down and made two columns in my mind: people who are in my life and people who are gone. Now that’s a heck of a thing to have staring you in the face.

I very much like the smell of wood smoke – the kind that comes from a fireplace or a woodstove. I like the smell of newly-washed hands. I enjoy the smell of candles as long as they are not the sweet, cloying smells of some artificial contrived wannabe classy salon. I do not like the smell of little old ladies, unless it is the cleanliness of soap and the clean fresh clothes. That last sentence is an odd one – one that I might have edited out at another time. But, heck, live with it; it’s true.

My  dog has bouts of pancreatitis and so we try to feed him neutral foods that are low in fats and easy to digest. Usually he gets chicken, rice and dog food (for vitamins) or buffalo meat, rice and dog food. When he gets the buffalo meat, I usually snitch a bit because it is so good. Sometimes we will brown regular ground beef and put it through a double draining procedure and every now and then I will warm up some Campbell’s Chunky Beef & Vegetable Soup and let him have some of the watered down broth on dog food. He loves that, but we have to be careful lest it taxes his little system. I almost forgot – sometimes he has minced steak warmed with dog food and a bit of water. That’s okay with him too.

Well, today, when I went for his buffalo meat, I saw that they had buffalo hot dogs in stock and on sale. Woo Hoo. It just so happened that I had a nice fire going at home and so, yes, I came home and roasted one and ate it. I still snitched a little of the buffalo meat, though.  I love it . . . with absolutely no condiments. Love it, do you hear me? Love it, love it, love it.

Because I wanted to check on school delays, I checked the TV this morning and while nothing was scrolling along the bottom of the screen, the news people, talking about the Ohio primary, visited a Longaberger basket factory to discuss the recession and the fact that 1,000 workers had been laid off during the year. I looked at their site as one of the reporters mentioned Longaberger baskets as being as “must have” item in some households.

Here’s a scenario: Someone feels sick and they grab for a receptacle. And it is a basket that costs hundreds. Hey, why does anyone need a basket that expensive? The gracious living thing?