No, I didn’t write a thing yesterday—got up early (consumed three poached hen bombs, and a slice of white toast), then spent the day— outside— polishing TTW’s (Tow-Truck-Wayne) latest towing contraption. It didn’t strike me as to how beautiful the weather was until around lunch when I took a quick ride to pick up a…
Category: Home Posts
Buckets, Back Roads, and Bad Coffee (No Black Flies)
The slumber was adequate. Most are. It’s still April around here, and it’s been a hit-or-miss month. It’s been mostly rain and washouts— six weekends in a row, to be specific. Moving into the new place and the subsequent chores—curtain hanging, shelving installation, and griping about the mud in the yard—have kept me anchored like…
Time for the Specialist
From now on, all I want in life is for people I hire or utilize for services to do what they say they will. Oh, I expect to pay for it, of course. That’s my end of the bargain. The ongoing clock conundrum, the clock being my Dad’s “major award” in the eighties, is complete….
Morning Musings and Dancing in the Dark
Snow and silence came to the backyard overnight. With my mug of coffee, I sat on the stoop, listening to it for a few minutes before I put on the music. The silence here is friendly, but I remember when silence was scary. It still can be, depending, but not lately. What about the quiet…
If You Don’t have to Carry it, Time Flies
The new tenant wanted to move in, and I’d already run through my short list of friends who might be willing to lift things and clear the place out. The carcass of the grandfather clock—currently hollow, a pile of plastic storage boxes, an ice cream table and chairs from the turn of the century when…
You Do You
There are benefits and downfalls to reading every comment. Email, that’s different. Many social media professionals advise me to avoid reading comments; I can’t do that. I also read all of my emails, which makes me one of a tiny percentage of people who don’t delete things immediately. As expected, I got a nasty message…
Better Because of It
When I drive, hundreds of ideas course through my mind. I sometimes wish I could hear them recombobulated in the voice of a posh Englishman. It would be more entertaining than silently selecting, catching, and then holding the gems because I bet I miss a lot of great ones. My best writing occurs far from…
The Dog
I receive many notes about Ellie. “Does she like the new place?’“Is Ellie comfortable?”“What does Ellie think?” I can only answer those questions like any man with a dog; I don’t know. Dogs, including Ellie, are like side dishes to life. They are not appetizers but more like potatoes or noodles—always on the table. Don’t…
“Soup’s On!”
“Soup’s on,” my grandfather said from time to time. The tin, saltine can, shouted out from the center of the table with the word “premium” in big blue letters. I hear the slight woosh from a minor vacuum release created when Gramps pried the top off the rectangular canister and pulled from within a wax…
General Practitioner
The furnace’s whir and thunderous whomp sometimes wake me up, but not often. That’s the burner kicking in. I don’t have quick access to a thermometer giving me outside readings, but I know when it’s cold overnight from the number of whirs and whomps per hour. Yes, I wake up a few times regardless, but…