Category Archives: The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse

Wood in snow

For a little while, with red cheeks and a red coat, I stood out by the woodpile and thought, “What is this hump in front?” Well, ACK and double ACK, it was a small pile of logs that had not been racked, but forgotten and then snowed over.

So, for a little while, I used hands encumbered by monster gloves and whacked at one piece of buried wood with another already uncovered piece, until I had enough pieces loose and free to carry in. It was not a bad task; the temperature was in the twenties and I was sheltered from what wind there was. I didn’t pile myself with logs; I took one at a time . . . because they are new wood and also have the weight of ice on them.

Walking back and forth. I felt akin to generations before me. And now I sit with my laptop and feel akin to generations after . . . maybe I have the best of both worlds.

Another storm?

We have a Winter Storm Warning in effect through Thursday. So, I guess I’ll head out to Wal-Mart for some Alka-Seltzer Orange Zest Plus for my sinus. Actually, it says it’s for colds, but I find it works better than the designated sinus Alka-Seltzer. Truly boring to read this, I know, but after enough snow and cold and wind, your mind whites out.

That being the case, I should just specify an empty area and post it for today, but I’m revved up because I still have to scroll by Joe Biden’s clown face to get to “Site Administration”, so I wouldn’t be satisfied with not typing. I need to punch these keys just as if they are his face.

PUNCH
PUNCH
PUNCH
PUNCH
PUNCH

I can imagine someone in my family buying a Jack in the Box and then altering Jack to be a Joe face. Auuuugggghhhhhh. I’d probably grab that popping up head and slam the whole contraption against the wall – over and over again. It would be therapeutic.

What you find out

This thing about writing posts in a blog – at first it seems so what? so paper and pencil, only easier. So telling about something, but, gee, here you are all alone in a room by yourself – and you have no stamp. So who are you telling and why?

Of course, there are those times when it is such a nice way to share, with pictures that can expand and fill the whole screen or be sent miles away. And they just happened a few seconds ago.

But, I guess, some people use it to sort of share the things they really feel awkward about sharing. Maybe a writer is creating a scene in a movie that captures some emotion that will reach deep inside another. Because isn’t that what words are – coded pictures of life and how real it feels in your gut. How it makes your eyes brim, your throat constrict.

You write it up and there it is and you know pretty soon you are sending it across airwaves to maybe someone else, but you let that stay a little foggy in your mind. I mean, who are you to cry on someone’s shoulder. And then, finally, you realize one or two are there . . . and you stop being you – not all at once, not completely; but you protect them, misdirect them and sometimes entertain them. You do this because you cannot bring yourself to write you are frightened and sad and at a loss.

But you do write it, finally, because you are the type of person who just can’t be satisfied with a page of paper in a journal. You don’t want sympathy, really, you don’t. But for some reason in your tears and fears, you don’t want to be alone.

It could be that is where stories come from; they are just tales of a character wearing a mask on your face. Perhaps there are those of us who are, in our essence, a Budweiser commercial. See, I’m not at the end of my rope – not when there’s a puppy and big old horse tugging a smile at the corners of eyes and mouth.

Oh, I’m just going to wait awhile

FIVE HOURS LATER.

I opened this new post because I didn’t want to feel alone, but I just didn’t have any words. There have been times when I have not let that stop me. I don’t know why this morning was different.

I had checked the news to see if the world was still here – as we know it; and I had looked at the weather – on the website and out the window. It is messy out there, with snow and sleet and temperatures high enough to produce routes of slush between the mounds of snow. I’d say that last sentence is a good example of me going ahead and typing when really I don’t have any words.

I believe I need to wait some more.

ABOUT 11 HOURS LATER.

I forgot to mention that I watched “Honey Boo Boo” Thursday night; I watched it on purpose. I have been hearing about the show off and on and finally decided since it was so controversial, I should at least view it. Actually, that had nothing to do with it – my curiosity just reached the can’t ignore point.

Are these people crazy? You go on the air with your lifestyle and that lifestyle includes four kids by four different men, one of whom is “unknown” to your memory. Of these four men, the three known all have served time in prison – one is a sex offender of children. One of your children is already a mother.

The second question is this: Are the people who watch this show more than one time crazy? Good night nurse, this is entertainment? Sugar Bear robbed campsites and set a camper on fire. (At first I thought this meant he had set a person camping on fire and then I realized the “camper” was one of those expandable trailer affairs.)

I do have a third question: Are they making enough money from this show to get off welfare? Well, I’m sitting here connected to the internet – I guess I’ll research it.

Posting to move Joe Biden down

When I posted the video clip of Joe (I can’t stand that man) Biden, I realized it would be on the front page for awhile. I thought I could handle it, and I’m not going to go jump off a cliff or anything, but I saw it this morning and felt like puking.

God, that man irritates me.

Every now and then, I will receive a comment on some post that is a spam-like thing. One showed up this morning; it was about porn on your Mac. This could be a coincidence, but, my gosh, what are the chances?

I could delete this clip, but I think of it more as a public service visual aid; it just needs a skull & crossbones over it. And the the question: Parents, do you know who your children are seeing on TV?

No, we can’t run away from everything that is ugly and, in my opinion, just plain evil . . . but
I am moving him down the page, one post at a time.

Oh my goodness! It’s him.

A friend met on the Internet is Pottermom and we tease each other back and forth. She is very familiar with my opinion of Joe Biden: I can’t stand that man. Yes, that opinion. I think she has upped the stakes on the teasing, though, because on her blog, she posted a link to this video clip, especially for me.

Warning: What you are about to see is graphic in nature and may be upsetting to some viewers.

If the embedding doesn’t work, here is the LINK.

Back to school

There is a two-hour delay, but school will be in session for East Noble today. For me, this means I will get some idea about which day of the week it is – that Saturday and Sunday have not Twilight Zoned into forever. The sky is blue, for now, but in two days we are expected to have an icy mix of stuff.  That will be the start of February. I have repeatedly called February the waiting room of the year; after plodding through January, I might appreciate a bit of waiting room.

I woke up early this morning and now I realize I have no yet taken my morning medicine . . . and, whoa, I have not had any peanut butter. Maybe I am in The Twilight Zone.

Ah, relaxing on Riley Street . . . er, or not

I was almost certain trash pick-up would be delayed by at least a day during this period of snow, more than usual cold, and more snow. I wasn’t 100% absolutely sure, though.  Our trash is picked up Thursday morning – sometimes very early, so we need to have it out there Wednesday night.

Yesterday, I started thinking, “Tomorrow is Wednesday night . . .” By this morning, it had become a chant in my head. Closings and Delays are plastered everywhere; looking for a off-beat one is iffy. However, today, on the trash website, although the company does not call it The Trash Website, a schedule was posted. YES! I am correct in thinking there will be a delay of a day.

Now, of course, I must keep reminding myself the trash had better be out Thursday night. Gee, it’s not our routine; I might forget. This sounds really familiar and I believe I have posted about this worry before. It’s one of those things in life that isn’t a one time deal; you do it one week and then, BAM, they expect you to do it again. I have not considered it this way before, but I suppose taking out the trash is performance art and the show must go on.

At night, quiet

Sitting in a pool of light, with a comforter around you and your nose running, is not necessarily a bad thing. You are cozy; you are warm; the pressure in your sinuses is easing. It is especially not bad if you have washed your face in a gentle cleansing cream, pressed hot washcloths against your face and dried it to a soft fragrance.

The trick is to keep your head tilted downward so the  – clear my throat – snot can drain. Oh, what a shattered image that is. Drat, and I was feeling so Estee Lauder facially clean and soothed and scented. Now I am feeling green – and not the Kermit shade.

Where did the word “snot” come from. Did someone look at the wretched stuff and exclaim, “S’not true. Can’t be anything that yukky coming out of my sweet Juliet!?” Perhaps. But etymology aside, true snot is part of our lives. And often at night.

Well, I could have talked about the weather again. Now, would not that have been boring?