The hygienist who cleaned my teeth yesterday and used the phrase “people of your age” is still living. I didn’t feel it would get me anywhere to jump off the reclining dental chair – why, in my day, they had seats like electric chairs! – and pound her into the ground and then tie her up with dental floss.
Of course, I did know that would get me somewhere – jail or the nuthouse. I decided to just sit there and be a person of my age.
Fortunately, you do not need a license to hunt dust bunnies and there is not limit. I have been sucking them into my vacuum and watching them bounce around in the canister with no bit of remorse at all. For one who has a reputation for giving inanimate objects personalities, I draw the line at dust bunnies.
There was a large nest behind the TV. I actually got down on my hands and knees and approached slowly with the hose of the vacuum. I also found a couple of DVD’s and a remote. In my house, the vacuum is not unlike a metal detector – you just don’t know what you’re going to find hidden beneath the surface.
Of course, the danger with digging deep to clean some things is finding a book. After all these decades, I have to a degree disciplined myself to putting a found book aside for perusal later. Some younger generations who have been participating in this endeavor are not as hardened and I have to monitor them and call out – No reading, keep at the job. I did have a hard time myself when I found an old paperback copy of The Day of the Jackal; because I have re-read it numerous times, I was able to put it aside – at least for the time-being.
Now that I’m mentioned it, I have to explain that so many books have great first chapters and then go downhill. The Day of the Jackal consists, in my estimation, of all first chapters. Shoot, I know where I left it an I feel the urge to go get it. That would not be wise, not with all these other dust bunnies waiting for me and my weapon – my Shark vacuum.
I am not referring to yesterday. Yesterday we had snow and I wrote about it. I also had a fender bender in a parking lot and my son had a flat tire. I thought today I would be writing about those two things. No, not yet – not after this morning’s trip to take my grandson to work.
The Snow Grinch came again last night and prompted this, which I did read until I finally got inside after being sideways across my driveway for ten minutes.
… WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM EST /3 PM CST/ THIS AFTERNOON…
HAZARDOUS WEATHER…
* LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE MORNING AND TAPER OFF BY THE AFTERNOON.
* ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES.
* NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WILL CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES… ESPECIALLY IN RURAL AREAS.
IMPACTS…
* TRAVEL WILL CONTINUE TO BE HAZARDOUS TODAY… ESPECIALLY DURING THE MORNING COMMUTE.
* SCATTERED TREE AND POWER LINE DAMAGE IS POSSIBLE DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF HEAVY… WET SNOW AND STRONG WINDS.
* THIS SNOW IS VERY WET AND HEAVY. THIS MAY LEAD TO HEALTH ISSUES WHEN SHOVELING. IF YOU HAVE HEALTH PROBLEMS OR ARE ELDERLY… YOU SHOULD NOT SHOVEL THIS SNOW.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL… KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT… FOOD… AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.
Halfway to my destination, the wipers froze on my windshield, either that or they were immobilized by gops of marshmallow like snow that were coming down.
And the day is only beginning.
I was going to mention that I fell asleep very early New Year’s Eve and did not see the New Year in at all and then, in the title line, my fingers went astray and instead of pushing delete, I pushed Publish . . . and so I guess it is a double bad omen all the way around.
I had a couple of pinwheel sandwiches and a couple of swallows of sparkling grape juice and when I sat down in front of the fire to watch a movie, I found myself thinking that lying down would be a better position. When I opened my eyes again, it was to go to the bathroom and the fire was barely embers and the clock was past midnight.
I watched no football today and so missed seeing the Ohio State guy being ejected from the Notre Dame game. We used to watch the Rose Bowl Parade every year and then the game, but cable TV and VCR’s managed to change that.
I am not going to speculate about New Year’s Resolutions. Maybe I’m make resolutions tomorrow . . . Oh, that is definitely not a good sign that I’m going to keep them and it certainly throws the one about procrastination out the window.
The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse network is airing a special series for this time of year. Please welcome Dave* Darinko and UDO Masterpiece Theater:
Looks interesting, doesn’t it?
*UPDATE: Dave has just revealed that his real first name is Alistair. He is Alistair David Darinko; it seems fitting. No?, well, let it simmer in your mind for a while.
And it felt good.
Well, I didn’t fall through the hole in the kitchen floor; it really was way too little. I didn’t trip in it because it was pretty close to the wall and I put a tile over it. But I will tell you: Freeing up that hole from the relatively heavy exhaust mechanism of the Jenn-Aire and then being stuck up in the joists where the pipes were joined together for venting was, okay, repetitive pun coming – exhausting. That last part was while leaning off a ladder while bracing against a wall. Not bad for 67, but you know it left me with a few sore muscles.
Even my little fingers were inflamed from working with gunky screws and bolts that didn’t exactly want to turn easily or were not in a very accessible position. Oh, excuses, excuses. Actually, I haven’t been at the computer because I have been guarding the oven, which looks so beautiful – much more impressive than in this picture.
I just finished a book that was an easy read, a mystery that depended on one not knowing much about the industry involved. It was set in two time periods: the late 70’s and the late 90″s. I find it difficult to read about eras in which I personally felt up-to-date and realize that they are now past times. Heck, I myself called them “eras.”
Eras were the 20’s and 30’s and 40’s, not to mention the turn of the century – the one from 1899-1900. I am bemused thinking about being an adult 40 years ago, when men wore white belts and white shoes and had wide sideburns. I remember the evening The Smothers Brothers introduced Glen Campbell as their summer replacement; now I see he has Alzheimer’s. Time did not go gentle on his mind, and I need to be slapped for letting that remark just flow right off my fingers.
Rose just sent me a message: She said she didn’t think even I could sink so low. I’m not surprised; I’m getting to know myself.
My great-grandmother Martha Fowler Wisler
Chair from a small Illinois church given to Robert William Vance by his great-grandparents Lydia Akers Vance and William A. Vance.
Indian yoke for carrying – found by my grandfather John Shimp in the old marshy territory of Lagrange County.
Oh, and Martha’s husband Wesley Wisler.
