Rats!!! I still have a UTI and am now waiting for a prescription to be called in.  Nothing like peeing in a cup and putting it in a double-doored cubby in a wall. I imagine the staff use that cubby for little pranks when the office is closed.  Or maybe they are dull people and the little cubby just sits there,  unfulfilled  as a prop in childish trick humor.

Summer is talking about her paper on The Brave New World. Ah, been there, done that.

I’m up at three this morning; I probably will go back down in a little while. Right now, I’m afraid I might dream about the refrigerator being out in the yard, with pieces falling off of it. It was a struggle waking up from that dream to start with and I’m taking a breather.

Oh, my gosh, I just remembered another aspect of this dream. When I came running into the house to get help to bring the refrigerator in, I discovered the washer had shaken all its outer walls off and and  was steaming. I didn’t need to recall that, especially with people being okay with it. I mean, you’re standing there in amazement, yelling, “The washer has no walls!” and oh, hum, here comes someone with a load of clothes.

I need to think of something else before, alas, what more memories of dreams may come?

Great, I have Thinker’s Block. But now, fortunately, a picture of the block of stone of The Thinker has popped into my mind. My mind may take some strange paths but right now, this is  better than the Tennessee Williams appliance stuff.

Ah, but there’s not too much you can think about The Thinker at this hour. I need something more engrossing; perhaps I should read a little . . .

Kathryn Feller’s younger son died on Sunday; I am getting ready to just sit with her today, almost ready to leave. But I have to write something first, in case a meteorite hits me or a gigantic semi.

I saw deep and honest pain etched on someone’s face today – pain that I am partially responsible for its being there. He said someone didn’t have to go to so much trouble to help him because he had gotten himself in the mess.

Having an idea that intense stress hormones are not real great on developing cells and that less than enthusiastic interaction during the first meeting of the world, alone with one other person is indoubtably

I saw a Bible reference yesterday; this one:

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

And, in the back of my mind, I think about it off and on. It is not the first time I have seen it, and this is not the first time I have stumbled around it. I think one of the earlier times I dealt with it was when some bright young people said they would not work for companies that dealt with certain not so lovely things. Well, human nature being what it is, ugly things are out there that need managing, maybe involve choosing the lesser of two evils, to be quite blunt about it. Who is going to handle those decisions if nice, smart people turn away. That lesser of two evils thing is not unlike fairness in the real world. It may not be perfect, but at least someone tried to do the best by everyone.

This general idea came to mind again when a high school counselor recommended a school and said it was the first to have a Peace Program. That’s fine, but are those students in that major more moral than the graduates of West Point?

What I’m getting at here, and it’s a long way around my barn, is I think we all should look for the best, but keep our eyes open to seeing what else exists. Chances out we can’t do much about it and fretting about the world defeats the purpose of actually living your life. Still, a compartmentalized awareness I think is important.

Somehow, after thinking about this, I went to look up some fact about Bing Crosby and Christmas songs and happened on John Wayne and something he said. I was going to paraphrase it, but kept deleting, so I sighed and went back and found something I could rip off with copy and paste:

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learnt something from yesterday

I think he’s talking about not looking for trouble but to recognize what may come. Actually, that’s too simple a summation, but monologues can only go on so long, and I imagine this one has hit that line.

Well . . . I don’t know. I thought I was here; I thought I wrote this post about whatever; but, now that I look back, I believe I may have written a great post in my head while I was stacking wood. Sigh, I guess that’s the world’s lost.

I have wood stacked mostly everywhere and the mostly is about to be filled because ANOTHER LOAD IS COMING! I need a woodshed. You know, I think I have not truly appreciated the meaning of woodshed – even though it is staring at me in plain English; I always kept it in mind as a place to take a kid behind.

And I’ve been thinking a lot about someone I don’t see very often anymore – so maybe it’s a good thing another load is coming because you get a lot of time by yourself when you’re stacking wood. And if your throat gets tight and your breath kind of ragged for a bit or so, the slow pace of toting a log from one spot to can accommodate it.

I buy things online. It is easy and I am selective, often waiting until a retailer of a product I really do buy and use offers me a very good deal.

The Yankee Candle Company is one. First of all, I  realize that burning candles is in a way burning money and I need to have a good reason for doing so. I consider the quality of my home atmosphere a good one and scents have been proven to affect mood. For the most part, I will burn a candle from this company because the product is  high quality and the scent listings include numerous and often detailed evaluations. and, often, detailed, detailed reviews. I know what we like and what has a good, clean throw. I have found some scents that do an excellent job of neutralizing some musty odors that hang around the room a dog prefers in the rainy season. I have learned to fight the urge to buy a candle because it sports a really enticing name. I mean, the name Casablanca may make me think of romantic and noble speeches at a rainy airport and trench coats . . . but it is probably going to be very hard to smell the mood set by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains and  . . . oh, who was that actor that lit two cigarettes at once and gave one to Bette Davis in “Now Voyager?” (Maybe I should sniff some peanut butter and look at the measurement results – see previous post.)

As a repeat customer, YCC periodically offers me two candles for the price of one and a $5 flat shipping. That’s cheaper than a Wal-Mart price. I just have to be patient and plan ahead, and, given the weight of candles, it is a very good shipping deal. I could not drive to the YCC store in Fort Wayne for that price, not to mention toting all those glass jars and wax out of the store, through the parking lot and then to my doorstep all by myself.

Shoes are another example. At my age I like the dependability of a good fit. If you bide your time, you can get a new exercise/walking shoe exactly like the one that has been such a comfortable fit for a slashed price. You can check lots of sites looking for what you need without having to go from mall to mall or store to store  only to be told it’s last season’s model or they don’t have your size. . . and it’s easier on your shoe leather. Okay, I probably am pushing the  punny stuff a bit too much.

While I’m at it, let me mention Crate & Barrel. Can you say flat shipping fee, excellent packing, high quality glassware, lots of reviews and prices again cheaper than Wal-Mart?

Often these sites will ask you to participate in a survey about your online experience and satisfaction with the product. Every now and then, I will agree because, well, why not? I got a good deal.

Today I got a phone call from a nice lady with a “foreign phone bank” accent telling me I had been selected to receive free samples and a $100 shopping card plus a $50 restaurant credit.  I told her thank  you, but no because I felt this could probably be a tricky little scam (I didn’t actually say “scam’) and if computer analysis had flagged my purchases marking me a careful shopper of quality products, I would think they would send me an email with all the fine print right there to be zoomed in on.

I could understand someone hearing “free samples” and “shopping card” and “discounted eats” and thinking, Well, if they want to send me stuff, why not? I suspect they do send you free samples . . . and then maybe they bill you $15 for shipping & handling each time. Some things aren’t too good to be true – such as Lands End $50 jeans for $7.50 . . . but, my father was one for getting the facts straight and in writing . . . or, at least in this Internet age, the facts in a fax. (Oh, Lord, the weirdness is getting a foothold.)

So, Robert Grismore, it’s a little thing, but I think I answered the survey question, “Are you a gullible nutball?” question okay.  I think  I need to work on the nutball part some more, though.

Paul Heinreid! He was the cigarette lighter and his character was Victor Lazlo. It just now came to me and I thought I’d share it. By the way, the cafe singing of La Marseillaise is always worth remembering.

Ah, well, Der Bingle sent us an article about peanut butter being a pure odorant and possibly can be used as a predictor for Alzheimer’s Disease. It may get a little tense around here as nostril to jar measurements are bandied back and forth. We expect to be contacted about a clinical trial.

It would have been better if the article had been about high peanut butter consumption being equated to low incidence of . . . uh, what was I talking about?

Of course there have always been little articles in magazines – especially the old Reader’s Digests – focusing on a condition, psychological or physical and posing a series of questions to see where you fit on the “I’m okay for the next few months” vs. “I’m going to die tomorrow” or “I will probably make it through life without murdering someone” vs. “Gee, where did I leave the butcher knife?”

Okay, it wasn’t usually that dramatic, but you get the idea. And now with the Internet. Saints preserve us. “Ten signs you might be _______. Circle a number between 1 and 5.” And then there are the online IQ tests, which I don’t talk about since I once took one and got a 76. I think it’s time to move on now . . .

Or maybe not, because I have to find a list that asks this question: If your glass is too full to hold any more ice cubes, do you you stick four or five in your pocket for later? Yes, I did this – this very morning. It actually worked out fine, well, if you don’t count the lint in my sweatshirt’s pouch pocket. It just seems a bit off; but is it crazy or (76) stupid slow?

Oh, good night, nurse . . . a couple of the folks here put up their little hands and asked if “both of the above” is a possible answer. Makes me want to bang my head against the wall . . . which could explain the 76, come to think of it. A little redhead reading over my shoulder just asked in awe, “You can think?”

Ah, here’s a hint to my purpose in life: Shane just dropped a Wubba in my lap.

On the way home from Fort Wayne, I drove down Main Street to see what was playing at the Strand and one of the movies was Gravity. I decided I’d go and I did, even bought popcorn and a drink. Before I turned my cell phone off, I took pictures of my popcorn, my drink and the blank screen (with one lady’s head shadowed against it) to prove that I was there.

I don’t believe there was any point in that.

Sandra Bullock was very good; I just don’t know if the movie was. I definitely liked the popcorn and raspberry tea, though.

Okay, I was just resting here and staring at my lower leg and for some reason I thought about the old lament: Oh, if we could only see ourselves as others see us.