Source: WYFF, Channel 4, Greenville, SC
Dateline: North Charleston, SC
“Charleston County deputies said a 44-year-old woman angry at a man for not returning home with beer on Christmas beat and stabbed him with a ceramic squirrel.”
I think she needed her Christmas spirits.
Perhaps I should say, “Worst News. . .” I’m still very unhappy with our television situation (no satellite service), but there are a few compensations.
Now that we are using just an outdoor antenna, I get only NBC, Fox, PBS, and a CW station. Mr. Fixit gets more. The local NBC station also has the “This” channel; it’s mostly movies, bad movies, in my opinion. But the main channel is HD. I never knew what I missing without HD. The problem is I don’t watch NBC programming. The CBS channel which has the programs I watch is an adjunct to the CW channel; it isn’t broadcast in HD. I sometimes get the Fox network, but there is only one show on that one I watch. We do get 3 PBS channels, thank heavens. The newer programming is HD. The best part is that I discovered that one PBS channel has Bob Ross, the painter who paints “fluffy little clouds” and “happy trees.” They also have a couple of craft shows during the day. The only problem is I get busy and forget to watch.
In addition, I’ve found that Youtube has lots and lots of old tv programming and old movies. There is the Classic Mystery channel, mysteries from the U.K., and Mr. Fixit has many 1930’s b/w westerns to watch. I can also stream from the free list on Hulu and ATT Uverse.
I still feel deprived, but being able to watch “Wild, Wild West” and Miss Marple on demand helps a little.
For the last few months, our local Walmart stores have been featuring those guys from a reality television show that look like the lost members of ZZ Top in an advertising point-of-purchase display in the optical department. I think their show is something about ducks. They make Billy Gibbons, of ZZ fame, look normal.
The life-size cardboard display creeps me out something fierce. I try not to look at it as I pass by to leave the store. I always want to look over my shoulder to be sure “he” isn’t following me like the topiary in The Shining by Stephen King.
Mr. Fixit called my attention to another p.o.p cardboard display featuring Will Ferrell, an actor who’s work I’ve never seen. He (Mr. Fixit, not the life-size cardboard Mr. Ferrell) said, “Did you notice that his eyes follow you as you walk along?” I stopped to look, but I didn’t see anything unusual about the thing’s eyes. As I walked away, I saw Mr. Fixit was right—the eyes do follow you. Talking about creepy—whew!
Then a few days later we were in a different Walmart.(Yes, we do spend an inordinate amount of time in Walmart.) There was another life-size cardboard female person. I have no idea what “she” was selling, because as soon as I noticed her eyes follow my movement, I got the hell out of Dodge.
I would really like to know if the duck guy’s eyes do the same thing, but I don’t want to get close enough to find out.
I am not known as a good cook. Oh, I cook things that Mr. Fixit likes, but I have a lot of cooking oopses. Things get too brown ( I like to think of them as having chocolate on them), or they come out undercooked. It’s seldom I hit it just right.
Today is the exception—my sweet (as opposed to savory) corn muffins look pretty! I’m so proud.
When Mr. Fixit saw me taking the photo, he had something to add to give it a little oomph. This is the result:
He must have a dozen of the 101st Airborne caps. This is the latest one, I guess.
I get excited about corn muffins; he gets excited about his caps. To each his own as they say. We are such fun people!
November 29 was my younger brother’s birthday. He died before his fiftieth birthday in 2006. I was reading some of our email recounted in my old blog. This is one of my favorites.
I had a terrible cold, and, in a moment of silliness and boredom, I wrote to him my discovery of the anti-gravitational property of snot. It seemed to be flowing uphill. I went on at some length. His reply:
“Sorry, but your febrile reaction to the rhinovirus you contracted must have had a deleterious effect on you synaptic responses.
In other words, the fever made you goody.
It is a well known fact that nasal mucus has anti-gravitational properties. The infamous “Green Papers” covertly obtained by former “Area 51” employee, Hugh G. Schnoz, graphically describe the “black operations” and secret research as related to alien/human hybrid viral induced sinus drainage and the gravitation warping properties of said drainage.
The papers can be downloaded at www.slickerthansnotonadoorknob.org.”
I still miss his wit and his run-on sentences more than I can say.
Every morning I start reading the news on my homepage—my ISP/Yahoo! Something strange has been happening lately. The same thing is happening on the local newspaper website and the website for our local television stations. I read the online versions of several newspapers in large metropolitan areas. It happens in those papers, too.
Today is November 19, 2012. These were the top five stories in the US news section on the Yahoo! site:
Tornado in the Midwest – Published 11-17-13
Pilot announces, “We’re going down!” – Published 11-14-2013
Donate to the typhoon relief – Published 11-11-13
White candidate pretends to be black – Published 11-10-13
Newtown 911 tapes – Published 11-10-13
It must be a slow news year day. They post the same stories for days and days sometimes. The weird thing is that the Entertainment section of the news seldom has old stories featured. TMZ updates old stories, but I’ve never seen the same story carried for days (Let’s not talk about my knowledge of TMZ, okay?)
There must be important stuff happening in the world every day. So why do they need to repeat the old news? It’s a mystery to me, but it’s not news anymore.
I have a problem using my Nook Color for reading. Most of my reading is done in bed, and the Nook is hard to handle while lying down. It’s too darned heavy and has to be held carefully because the touch thingy is so sensitive. I have to hold it at the bottom or the pages flip whenever they choose, not when I choose. If I have a particularly wakeful night, I often develop cramps in my fingers.
Mr. Fixit loves to order what he considers handy gadgets; I consider his handy gadgets a bit of a waste of time and resources. As a result of his little mail order hobby, he is now on the mailing list of every mail order house in the US.
When I was browsing through one, I found this ad:
Eureka! Just what I need! Then I looked at the price. I didn’t need it at a price $17.00 plus shipping and handling. I asked Mr. Fixit, “Can you make this for me for less than $17.00 plus shipping?” I had no doubt that he could. He made a little trip to Lowe’s for Velcro. The Velcro we had at home was too narrow to support the Nook.
Ten minutes later—the result:
Back View
Front View
Dangling
After one modification (it needed another strip so I could hold it in my right hand also), it works like a charm! And it didn’t cost $17.00 plus shipping and handling. It amounted to a couple of dollars and about ten minutes labor. He also has enough Velcro left over for any other little job I may come up with for him to do.
He’s pretty handy to have around.
(To give credit where credit is due, the idea is quite clever—just a little too pricey for me.)
In a few weeks, I will be entering my tenth year as a blogger. My first post was November 30, 2004. I began blogging to share the musings of my younger brother who died a few years ago. He was so clever and weirdly funny. My first blog, “Observations of an Ordinary Person,” ran until July, 2007, when technical problems forced me to start this one.
Jason and his wife gave me a wonderful gift. They found a company that printed that first blog as a bound, hardcover book. All my posts, comments, and pictures were included. There are 241 pages. (See post of 9/26/10 to see photo of book.)
A few months ago, I wanted to check something that I was sure I had mentioned on the blog. I looked in the place where I thought I had put the book; it wasn’t there. I looked several other places, but it was nowhere to be found. Since then I have looked everywhere I could think it might be, and today while looking for something else, I found it! Yea!!!
As I glanced through it, I found my brother again. There were pictures of a newborn Levi, and Cole and Bella as young children. Cole is now a college student and Bella is in middle school. There is a picture of Noah in his Nacho Libre costume and one of both he and Owen dressed as Harry Potter. There are pictures of my cat friends, now mostly departed.
I’ve found my memories!
Okay, so maybe “chaos” is a little strong. Let’s just say we are experiencing another major household breakdown. The refrigerator went kaflooey. We had gone to the grocery the day before, and it was pretty well packed. We filled three coolers with the unfrozen stuff and moved all the frozen stuff to the big freezer downstairs.
We have been chasing for parts all over the whole county for the last two days. Mr. Fixit went into one parts and repair shop and asked for a particular part.When Mr. Fixit explained why he needed that part, the guy said he wouldn’t sell it to him because it would be a “waste of money.” He said it was possible that we would have to buy a new one. He said the repair would cost about $800, and, of course, we could buy a new unit for that. Mr. Fixit decided to continue looking for the part. We found it at another place; the price was $3.24. The man at the first place didn’t want us to “waste” $3.24, but I bet he would have jumped at the chance of repairing it for $800.
Today when we were driving by the first place, Mr. Fixit did something very uncharacteristic of him; he gave the repair shop the finger as we proceeded on our way. It did him a world of good.
We had to hunt for a another part, and Mr. Fixit had to Mickey Mouse it a little, but, as on now (8:07 pm), we think we may be on the road to cool food and iced drinks once again.
We looked around a bit for new fridges; the prices and the standard sizes blew me away. We are not in a position for big cash outlays right now, but you can’t do without a fridge. Not only do they cost an arm and a leg, they are huge. The door between the dining room and the kitchen is only 30” wide. The door leading to the deck is 31”. Trying to get one of those behemoths through either door would be a major undertaking, if not totally impossible. My kitchen is very small, too. There’s no way the 36” deep ones would work at all. The salesman said that is “standard” size these days. He also said that refrigerators are built to last only 10 years. Why am I not surprised?
I have been close to losing a few times in the last couple of days, but I hope that Mr. Fixit has worked his magic and all will be right in my world again.
I suppose the lady is playing the piano for the dancers who are to her left.
The firefighter and the limbo contest were among many of the displays around the town square.
The arts are represented by a Hobbit character. It’s in front of the Little Theater of Clemson located in Pendleton
Pirates at the City Building
Graduation at local office of the county Board of Education.
(Click on photos for more detail.)
Last Tuesday morning I slept a little later than usual so I was having breakfast quite late. I was finishing a few minutes before 9:00 am when Mr. Fixit came to ask me if I want to take a drive to see if the trees in the mountains had begun to turn.
I finished eating, packed a picnic lunch (home-made vegetable beef soup, sandwiches, a side to eat with the soup and sandwiches, and desert for Mr. Fixit. I changed clothes and was in the car before 10:00 am.
The weather was nice, but the color was lacking. I was disappointed, but the trip to Sylva, NC, was nice.
This morning we tried again.This time we went to Brevard, NC, crossing a mountain on a very curvy road. I didn’t enjoy that part much. I asked Mr. Fixit if we could find another way home. We drove about 30 miles out of our way, but it was a nice wide highway with gentle curves.
The leaves still aren’t at their best, but it was a little more colorful above 2600 feet elevation. These photos were made outside Brevard a few hundred feet lower than the best color.
When the movie arrived from Netflix, I said to Mr. Fixit, “I think this is one of your old westerns.” I didn’t mean it in a snotty way; I just meant that it was probably on of those 1930’s or 1940’s westerns that he likes so much.
When I opened it, I said, “It’s not that old; it was made in 1941.” I did a little quick math in my head—”That was 72 years ago!” I said, “Well, I guess it is old.”
I can remember when 1941 didn’t seem that long ago, even though it is a little older than I am. My older brother was born in 1941. Sometimes when I realize how old I am, I am a little stunned.
Pendleton, SC is a small town adjacent to Clemson, SC and our little town. It was created in 1790 and currently has a population of a little less than 3,000 people. It’s a typical little Southern town with a town square.
For the last few years, as part of the Halloween festivities, the town decorated with scarecrows. The merchants, churches, and just plain folks participate. It’s so nice to see the the merchants, the religious community, and the residents come together. This year’s displays are delightful.
(As usual click on photo to enlarge
Welcome to Pendleton
Resident display
Sponsored by local church
Sponsored by a medical group
Sponsored by a bed and breakfast
I will post more later.
A few months ago we terminated our Directv service. Since then we receive special offers several times a week by mail so we will re-sign with them. They seem to be most anxious to get our business. They tell us that we are a most valued customer--yeah, right. That could be because I always pay a little more on the recurring monthly bills that necessary. In fact, when I cancelled the contract, they owed me almost $150.00.
Earlier this week, we were out doing errands when my phone rang. I answered because I couldn’t read the incoming call information; the sun was bright and I didn’t have my new glasses yet.
Me: Hello.
He: This is Directv and I like to tell you about a special offer we have for you if you come back to us.
Me: You’ve caught me at a bad time. I’m driving. Could you call some other time?
He: Why don’t you pull over so we can talk now?
Me: What? (I was astounded.)
He: Just pull over and we’ll talk now.
Me: No.
I then hung up without a good-bye or even an invitation to stick his special offer where the sun doesn’t shine. I felt a little bad, because I was almost as rude as he was. Well, maybe not all that bad.
He hasn’t called back. I guess they won’t be offering us another $200.00 gift card.
What has happened to America’s favorite side order, the French Fry? (Or should that be “french fry” or “French fry?” It’s not often I type that particular phrase.) They ain’t like they useta be.
Whenever I cook potatoes at home, whether boiled, mashed, or roasted, every potato is clear of spots. Potatoes to be baked are scrubbed with a brush. I really to have a thing about my potatoes.
To be honest, I seldom make homemade fries because of the step necessary for a crispy bit of potato that doesn’t get soggy two minutes after it’s removed from the cooking oil. In order to achieve the desired crispiness, the potatoes should be dunked into ice water and dried before frying. That’s just a little too labor intensive for me. Thank heaven for frozen fries and fast foot emporiums (emporia? – I’m having brain glitches this morning.) But something has changed.
Those pretty little strips formerly packaged by Ore-Ida are no longer pretty. The have countless bits of peel and/or dark spots which could be anything from blight to dirt in my estimation. The sames goes for fast food fries. It seems like every purveyor of fast food now serves fries, whether straight of curly, with peel attached and those same dark spots as the frozen ones I sometimes serve at home.
Of course, they (whoever “they” are) tout the fact that all the vitamins and minerals are in the peel. In my opinion, that a good excuse to lower labor costs; leaving the peel (with its dirt and or blight in tact) costs less. I would rather take a sanitary vitamin tablet that to eat dirt or blight. Who knows how well that potatoes are washed.
Mr. Fixit and I decided to have lunch at Ron’s the other day. You know who Ron is, right? He’s that clown with the big feet. I said to myself that Ron does have the best, unspotty fries in the land. Yea! You can imagine my disappointment when I pulled that first fry from it’s container and saw bits of peel still clinging and spots. What the heck? This heretofore ideal fry has gone to just another spotty side order just like all the rest.
So what is the answer to my problem with fries? At the end of the meal, I had a pile of ends with peel and spots that I discarded in that great trash bin in Ron’s establishment.
(Did you notice how I cleverly avoided the “French” or “french” question? I simply omitted that descriptor. Now if I could solve the rest of my problems so easily…)
When working a crossword puzzle recently, one clue read, “Dana who played the same role in two movies.”
My first thought was of Dana Andrews who was in the 1944 classic, “Laura.” I couldn’t come up with the two movies mentioned in the clue. My next thought was Dana Wynter, who was in the 1956 version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Again, I couldn’t think of the character she might have played in two movies.
I sat there thinking for several minutes before I gave up and decided to work it out with the interlocking clues.
After completing the puzzle, the answer was “Carvey” who was in two “Wayne’s World” movies. Hmm. . .I haven’t seen either one of those. My age is showing; Dana Carvey never even entered my mind.
Baseball has given way to football. Both Owen and Levi are playing full contact ball. Owen plays in the 10-and-unders and Levi is in the 8-and- unders. Saturday was their jamboree. Even though they play in separate towns, the jamboree included several area rec teams.
The games Saturday were shortened to one 2o-minute half per game. We sat thru five games. I get a little uptight. It just so happened that both boys were shaken up a little. Levi really scared me; he was hit a little high and his head snapped back. I had visions of whiplash.
We haven’t had games to attend since the latter part of July so I am a little out of practice for preparation. I forgot to put on sunscreen Saturday until after we got to the field. I found some in the trunk of the car, but missed putting in on my neck. I’ve got a dilly of a burn.
Levi had a real game Monday evening. The field was marshy and the bugs were swarming. Luckily I had the battery operated fans in the car to blow them away. I couldn’t do much about the mud. The weather was nice though.
Last night Owen had a game. Our weather decided to heat up. Finally in the fourth quarter it cooled off a bit. At least the field was dry and I remembered to the bug repellant.
I’m getting back into the “fan” routine. . .chairs, sunscreen, insect repellant, fans, hats, water, etc., etc. Now if the weather co-operates, I’ll be in full fan mode.
Oh, yeah. Noah’s travel baseball team starts again soon, and it probably won’t be long until Bella begins volleyball. Cole is the only one not playing. He’s busy getting into the college routine.
A few years ago, Mr. Fixit constructed a barrier to limit our outdoor cats to the dining room and kitchen areas. It’s not pretty, but it can be easily taken down when need be. It doesn’t reach the top of the doorway. It worked out quite well.
A few nights ago, I made the white cat stay indoors overnight because it was raining, and when he gets wet or cold, he develops a cough. As I lay reading in bed, I heard him bumping the barrier. The noise stopped after a few minutes. Then I heard him meow; it sounded close. I walked out of the bedroom and he was sitting there looking quite pleased with himself. He discovered the secret of sliding the barrier aside.
Last night he wanted to stay inside again, but I put him out because I didn’t want him invading the rest of the house with his fleas. I was afraid to block the barrier with a chair because I figured he would climb on the chair and go over the barrier.
This morning he was waiting, as usual, for me to open the door so they could have breakfast. Both of them came in at the same time. Whew! SKUNK! I couldn’t tell which of them was the stinker. They were both eating from the same dish so it looked as if the smell wasn’t affecting the one who hadn’t been sprayed. The white one left after eating; Mother stayed behind. I could tell she wasn’t smelly one.
He stayed outside until it was time for dinner (His since of time is remarkable. He always show up at 6:00 pm). When I opened the door, he came in and I thought the smell has disappeared. Then it hit me! It was worse than it was this morning.
After he ate and left, I turned on the vent fan over the stove and opened the windows in the dining room with a fan positioned to blow toward it. Then I found the Febreeze. I’m not a big fan of those room deodorizers so I seldom use it. I was surprised at how well it worked. We were able to eat in the kitchen after about an hour. That Febreeze worked a small miracle without leaving it’s own cloying odor.
I wonder how long it takes for the smell to leave the cat. It’s not as if I can bathe him; he’s too wild for that. I hear thunder off in the distance. Maybe it will help dilute the stench. I can only hope.
I could try spraying him Febreeze, I suppose.
Cole checked into his dorm yesterday. I’m so proud of him. He’s such a good young man. I know it’s not all fun and games, and I also know that he will do the best he can. Classes start August 21. I wish him the best.
These are pictures taken from our deck during recent recent “flood.”
This is a newly retouched water tower in downtown Pickens, SC. I think the motto reads, “Where the mountains begin.” It looks like this one goes back a few years.
This picture was taken riding north on I85 in Georgia at about 70 miles an hour. This motto always seems a little threatening to me. I have visions of a horse’s head and an offer that can’t be refused.
As usual, click on each photo to enlarge.
Cole’s 18th birthday was Sunday. He starts college next week.
Our other two grandsons aren’t far behind. I saw a sign of leaving little boyhood behind. The décor in their bathroom has changed from a SpongeBob motif to a color co-ordinated, grey and dark red, masculine adult bathroom.
Oh, my!
I’m happy that Levi still has time as a little guy. I hope he enjoys it.
A few days ago Mr. Fixit saw a gasoline station advertising gas for $2.99.9 per gallon. We had the car filled up a few days before when the going price was $3.19.9 a gallon. He said when he needed gas again he was going to come to the station with the cheaper price. That station was in a town about 25 miles away from our house.
Today he decided it was time for a fill-up. Off we go on the 25 mile trip. The price was still $2.99.9.
He said, “ Okay, I bought 13 gallons of gas; that means I saved $2.60.”
I said, “But you used $3.00 in gas getting here.”
He said, “Yeah, I know but it makes me feel good to know I saved $2.60.”
That man really knows a bargain when he “feels” it.
Mr. Fixit is still on vacation so today I had time to do something I seldom do. I watched a whole mini-series in one sitting.
My favorite genre of television is British mysteries. The one I chose today was “Five Days,” an HBO film made in association with the BBC and written by Gwyneth Hughes. It was enthralling and disturbing. I won’t sat I enjoyed it. It is quite like the “The Deer Hunter.” It’s not a film you “enjoy.” They are both disturbing movies that touch your emotions in ways that few movies do.
“Five Days” tells the story of a young mother’s murder. There are so many conflicts and changes the characters go through. The victim is white, her husband is black. She has a white daughter from a previous marriage and two mixed race children with her husband. The story details how her death almost destroys everyone concerned--her husband and children, her grandfather, her parents, the perpetrators, a good Samaritan (maybe) who becomes overly involved, and the police officers involved in solving the case.
I have to admit that I cried more than once. There was one scene with her mother (Penelope Wilton) and her father (Edward Woodward) that left me intensely affected. The grandfather said some very unkind things to his daughter. She said, “I only wanted to come first with somebody.” Wow! There must be very few people who live their lives without coming first with someone. It could be a parent, a child, a spouse or a lover. It’s remarkable that there are other people who feel they are forever on the outside looking in. You could see the pain on her face when her father said that she must have been born into the wrong family. It must be devastating to finally admit that you never have and never will “come first.” It was intense for me, to say the least. I suppose people can care about you, but you don’t necessarily come first.
Aside from Mr. Woodward and Ms. Wilton, there were some other outstanding performances. Patrick Malahide, who played Inspector Alleyn in a series based on Ngaio Marsh’s books, was excellent. As was David Oyelowo in the role of the victim’s husband.
Now I have to find something distracting to get this series out of my head.
Using the scan-it-yourself check out lines is not one of my favorite things to do—for a variety of reasons that I touched on in previous posts. If we have no produce and just a few items, we sometimes use them as we did recently in Wal-mart.
There is always a hand-written sign on each register indicating that gift cards cannot be used at the scan-it-yourself register. There was another sign also posted on one or two of the registers recently. It stated, “Cash Cannot Be Accepted.”
Writers of science fiction usually describe a future when cash is obsolete. Will my paper money go the way of phone booths, surgeons, and landlines? Sometimes I feel like I’m living in the future; what next, the Jetson’s will move in next door?
This morning I sat at the breakfast bar with my book waiting for the tea kettle to boil. I heard a rhythmic sound, thika, thika. I listened. The faucet wasn’t dripping, the AC wasn’t running, and, of course, all the televisions were silent. What the. . . ?
I looked straight ahead listening, listening with my head cocked like a dog’s trying to understand what his human is saying. There it was right in front of me—the electric wall clock in the dining room. Thika, thika with each passing second.
I never realized that electric clocks could be so noisy.
The town furnishes our trash receptacles because a few years ago new garbage truck was purchased that featured the lift thingey. The guys no longer have to lift the bins manually. Clearly printed on each container is the instruction to place the handles toward the street. I guess this is so they won’t have to turn it around to fit it on the lift mechanism.
The town also passed an ordinance that required the residents to move their containers from the street-side within 24 hours. Lots of people ignore that one completely and their containers stay there all the time. But all the containers within my view have them positioned correctly with the handles toward the street.
Every Wednesday morning when I take ours to the street, I notice that our neighbor across the way always leaves his container backward. Hmmm—I wonder if this is his small quiet rebellion. There is small part of me that admires him. I’m such a wuss. I am compelled to be a rule-follower.
(I don’t quite understand why the garbage guys can’t turn the containers. I understand how lifting them is difficult, but just turning them?)
We have had so much rain this year. I think it has rained every day for weeks. Last Friday night there was a big storm that caused quite a bit of damage in the area. There is a small creek that runs behind the house across from our house. It flooded and washed away about 4 feet of one neighbor’s yard causing their fence to collapse and the dog to escape. The run-off from our house ran into another neighbor’s yard. The water running down their driveway pushed their little plastic shed with holds their lawn mower and yard tools about 8 feet. It just missed their new car.
We had a bit of a mess, too. The water came in under our garage door flooding the garage and destroying some the 700+ paperback books that I was storing there. The water ran under the door leading into the house. The bathroom directly across from that door had quite a bit of water, but the floor covering is linoleum so there wasn’t much damage except to the vanity. The water also went into the extra bedroom that we use for storage. It is carpeted. We dried to dry it out with fans after using a wet/dry vac on it. It smells horrible still. I don’t think it was mildew because it smelled bad on Saturday morning. I didn’t know rain water could smell so bad. I guess the carpet will have to go.
Removal of the carpet will have to wait until Mr. Fixit comes home. He is on vacation and will probably be gone at least a week. He flew out this morning. I don’t think I can move all the stuff in there by myself.
The sun is shining a little bit now, but I think thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon. On the bright side, the grass and trees are very green.
I’m having a little trouble coping with no TV. Mr. Fixit bought an indoor digital antenna for his set. It works pretty well. He can get several local channels and the programming is HD. Wow! I didn’t realize what a difference there is. He put another antenna on my set, but it doesn’t work very well. I can only get one or two channels, and, as my luck goes, those channels aren’t the ones I watch much. The under-the-counter set in the kitchen doesn’t get anything at all. The quiet is wearing on me.
Some weeks ago, I turned off my television to see if I could bear to be without it. It worked out very well; I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would. But I did realize that it wasn’t a true test because all I had to do was push that little button and I would once again be entertained and informed.
Circumstances have dictated that we are now without broadcast television, and it’s more of a problem for me than I thought it would be.
I was checking to see if I could watch my favorite shows on line. I found most of them, but it’s not the same as being able to channel surf to pick and choose. Then I found something that brightened my outlook considerably.
I found on the CBS site “CBS Sunday Morning” with the soothing sound of Mr. Osgood’s voice. My favorite part of the program is the nature video at the end of the program each week. The photography is the best, and I love the video with no narration or background music. You simply hear birdsong, the rustle of the leaves and tall grass, water tumbling in streams, and the croak of frogs and the buzz of insects. Sometimes if you listen closely, you hear the breathing of the cameraperson or traffic in the distance.
I have been a little peeved lately because they seem to have shortened these segments in the last season or so. The video I found on line was almost four minutes. It was a segment done at the sight of the Battle of Gettysburg. It was lovely!
Now I don’t feel so deprived!
A great moment during Levi’s game last night:
One of the guys, who has a little problem with hand-to-eye co-ordination as most 7 year olds have, hit the ball. In fact, the first time he was up, he hit a three bagger. It was his best night ever. This time I think the hit was sort of a line drive. The defense chased the ball and tried to put the base runner out when he was going to third. Our batter stumbled and fell about six feet short of first base. He may lack hand-to-eye co-ordination, and he may not be the most agile player on the team, he showed his grit and determination. He crawled to the remaining distance on his hand and knees was was safe at first.
The little guys try so hard, and they never give up. I don’t think they care if they win or lose. The just like to play the game.
Buttercups, tulips, hyacinths, lilacs, and forsythia have come and gone. Azaleas are blooming now but fading fast. March came in like a lion and went out like a lion. April showers brought May flowers, blah, blah, blah.
Mr. Fixit turned off the heat a couple of weeks ago. I turned it back on a week ago. It’s been raining for days it seems. I still have my winter jackets and my rain jacket in the back seat of the car with earmuffs and mittens in the pockets. To say the weather is unusual is an understatement. We have lived in South Carolina for 30 years, and this is the first time we have had to have the heat running in May. Weird!
Cole has finished his high school baseball and will be starting his showcase team practice today. Noah and Owen are on travel teams. Owen had a tournament this past weekend; it poured! The tournament directors made those children play in the cold rain until the field became unplayable.
Mr. Fixit sat in the rain under his umbrella during the second game. I sat in the car. After the game was finally called, he was going to help someone take down a canopy. He fell off a 3 foot high wall and hurt his knee a bit. He’s not feeling very well today because he has a cold. It could be from sitting in the cold and rain for hours. I don’t think I should say “I told you so,” but I did try to get him to watch from the car.
Levi, who plays coaches pitch, was a joy to watch Saturday morning. I had been sitting there bitching complaining about the cold weather when he came out in the catcher’s garb.
At this level, catchers mostly kneel behind the plate and just enjoy wearing the “costume.” One of the dads stands behind the catcher to actually catch the ball.
Levi squatted in a very professional manner with one little hand behind his back as they are taught later on when the catchers are expected to do something. The batter hit the ball, Levi jerked the mask off his head, and tried to catch the ball. No other little guys on any of the teams they play had ever done that. Then he knew to back up the first baseman when he was needed. He played like a professional. I might mention that Cole, his big brother, played catcher for many years. Levi learned his lesson well.
It was worth sitting there with the wind blowing and the temperatures in the low 50’s. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
Today is election day for our past “Luv Guv” who is running for political office. According to the polls he has a good chance of winning. Personally, I don’t care who (or what) he has had carnal relations with. It’s none of my business. However, when he tried to pass the cost of his South American tryst to the tax payers of the state and he told his infamous hiking lie , he proved to me that he is dishonest and totally lacking in judgment. He also proved to me that oaths, such as his marriage vows, have no significance to him. Will the oath of office mean anything to him? He has even violated a court order in his divorce case (he has admitted to going into his ex-wife’s house in violation of a court order), so it looks as if the rule of law means nothing to him either.
But the voters in our state don’t seem to care about honor and integrity. I suspect that his opponent being a woman and a Democrat is enough to insure his victory regardless of the the issues facing our state and country. The outcome of the election will only surprise me if he loses.
I did sort of a mean thing the other night.
Every night I fix the cats a little bedtime snack of real chicken. (I started giving them chicken when our black and white one was having trouble eating.) I cook a few thighs at the time and then put the meat in the food processor. They’ve come to expect it every night. Then Mother Cat goes out, no matter the weather, and the white stays inside. He stays outside at night, too, when the weather is warmer.
Since it’s a little cold still, I’ve been keeping him inside. This night though he outfoxed me and sneaked out. I called him several times and he just sat on the deck and ignored me.
I went up to get ready for bed and to read for a while. Thirty minutes later I tried again to get him in. Still, he ignored me. I waited a little while longer before trying again. I was tired; I wanted to go to bed.
When he still ignored me, I almost decided to leave him out. Then a mean (well, a little mean) idea occurred to me. I turned on the food processor and he came running. I closed the door quickly, and he spent the night inside WITHOUT a second serving of chicken. I think I received a dirty look. That’ll teach him to ignore me!
It’s been 12 days (but who’s counting?) since I turned off my television. I did have it on most of the day during the hunt for the Boston bombing suspects, but I’m not counting that as recreational viewing time.
Do I miss it? Not as much as I thought I would. I turned it on last night to watch “NCIS,” but I only watched a few minutes. I don’t like this ongoing plot line.
Sometimes when I walk into the kitchen, my hand reaches for the on/off switch for the TV that’s in there. It’s sort of like quitting smoking. There are times when most smokers light up—getting into the car, picking up the phone, or after meals. It becomes a ritual almost. Giving up those rituals is hard even after you have conquered the physical addiction. I’m still haven’t conquered the ritual of the on/off button, but I’m getting there.
Last night Levi had his second coaches pitch baseball game. He did very well. He made a hit at every turn at bat, and he made some very good defensive plays. All of our grandchildren are outstanding athletes. Grammies get to brag sometimes.
The Play of the Week happened when one of the smallest players on the team came up to bat. He looks about 5 years old, but he could be just small for his age. After several pitches he finally connected. He drove the ball down in the dirt in front of him. It was barely out of the batter’s box, but it was in fair territory. He ran for first base and made it safely. Someone threw the ball and the player who was supposed to catch it missed the ball. This happened several times. Our little guy scored a home run on a ball that went about two feet! Yea for him! I hope they gave him the game ball.
I love watching the little guys play!
Since I was seven years old, television has been a huge part of my life. I would rush in after school and stare at the Indian head test pattern until our one station signed on. Back in the early ‘50’s, the broadcasting day ran only a few hours. I would watch John Cameron Swayze doing the news and every program until 9:00 pm when I was sent to bed. Even then when “I Love Lucy” came one I would peek through the doorway until I was caught.
Very few days in the last 60 years have passed that I haven’t watched television . The kitchen television is turned on the minute I enter to cook breakfast. As I move from room to room during the day, I turn on the closest set. There have been times when there are three sets running at the same time, and I am alone. One television or the other is on from the time I get up until I go to bed.
If I’m reading the television is on; if I’m on the computer, the television is on; if I’m washing dishes, cooking, or cleaning, the television is on.
We don’t have sets in the bedrooms now although we did in the past. I do have a portable VCR player in a bedroom for those nights when sleep just won’t come. I also can access the internet in the wee, small hours to stream a little entertainment if necessary.
Last night I was channel surfing trying to find something to watch (or at least to listen to while I was working on a project). There are over 100 hundred channels available and I couldn’t find one thing that looked interesting. I don’t watch reality shows, comedies are all based on tasteless subjects, and I had seen every movie on last night several times. I did something I seldom do—I turned off the set. I found a video on the shelf to watch, and I went to bed at 10:00 pm and read for a couple of hours.
I mentioned to Mr. Fixit this morning that my television hadn’t been on since early yesterday evening. I wondered if I could make it more that a few hours without the background noise. I have the internet for news, games, and streaming programming from the networks, plus a large collection of movie DVD’s.
Here it is 9:00 Saturday evening and the TV is still off. It helps that we have been away from home all day. Tomorrow we have a full day of baseball tournaments. If I can start my day without Lester Holt and “CBS Sunday Morning,” I may be able to go another day without television.
Mr. Fixit said that if I don’t go nuts without it, we could save a lot of money without that Directv bill every month. Yeah, right! He’s also glued Encore Westerns for far too many hours a day. I think the loss would hurt him more than me.
My doctor’s practice includes two doctors and one nurse practitioner. There is also a lab and a small emergency facility. The three are separate entities under the same umbrella organization. They share a large waiting room.
When I go into the lab/emergency waiting area, I tend not to make prolonged eye contact with those waiting. Somehow it seems intrusive to me to show any curiosity when someone is sick.
This morning when I went for my blood work for an upcoming appointment, I noticed a young woman waiting but I didn’t really look other than to smile to acknowledge her presence.
A few minutes later as I was reading my book, she made a telephone call detailing the reason for visit to see the doctor. She said that she had cut her finger while washing dishes and she had been bleeding for over an hour. That’s when I looked up and saw that she had large amount of gauze wrapped around her hand.
While the young woman was still talking to her friend, the nurse came out to check the wound and to re-wrap the hand. The young woman continued to talk while the nurse was working on her. The nurse finished and the phone conversation continued without pause.
I think it’s rude for customers to talk while their groceries are being checked out. This seemed beyond rude to me, but, of course, I could be described as an old fuddy-duddy.
My dentist has the right idea, I think. There is a sign in the office that says, “Please turn off cell phones. If your phone rings during your appointment, the appointment will be terminated.” I would be willing to bet that there has never been a cell phone ringing in his examination rooms.
When Owen arrived at the baseball game with his Dad, he was wearing a new cap. Instead of having the usual team logo, it had a logo having to do with his hip-hop group. It was a really nice cap. He had on a warm pullover (it was another cold day) and a pair of those stripe-down-the side pants that he can wear over his basketball shorts (I don’t know what they’re called.).
I said, “You look so cute today.” His smile would have brightened up the darkest day. He was beaming!
When I see Bella, I usually compliment her appearance, but I realized that I seldom remark on the boys’ appearance. Of course, I did when they were little, but it seems that after they reached a certain age, I was reluctant to do so.
Owen’s smile showed that that the boys need compliments just as much as girls. I will not be remiss in that area again.
It also occurred to me I could have a sexist attitude. Oh my! How could I? I am abashed!
This morning one of the morning news shows did a story on Queen Elizabeth’s first public appearance since her recent tummy problems.
She was wearing a matching hat and coat; she looked quite queenly. Then the camera pulled back and showed her feet. Instead of wearing her modest inch and a half heels, she was wearing “sensible” (translation – ugly) shoes that look like the ones made by SAS.
Perhaps she has reached the age when comfort becomes the deciding factor when buying shoes. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in my choice of footwear.
Now if someone would kindly tell her that she really should change her hairstyle to include a little fringe of bangs and a little less hairspray. . .
While I enjoy these modern times, there are some things from the old days that that I miss—those little triangular car windows in the front doors, the vent knobs under the car’s dashboard that were perfect for hanging litter bags, jeans that actually reach my natural waist line, and being able to buy one bed sheet at the time.
I need a regular, white double fitted sheet, 400 or higher thread count made of cotton. I don’t need a 16” or 24” pocket, a flat sheet, or two pillow cases.
Over the last few days, I have looked at Bed, Bath, and Beyond where I did find a single fitted sheet. The problems were the deep pockets and the prohibitive cost. Target does not sell fitted sheets only, just sets. Walmart had the single sheets, but they were the kind that pill after a few washings. I also checked a couple of department stores; they all have sets only. Today I looked at 240 offerings on Amazon and not one “fitted” my criteria. Am I asking too much? Am I the only person who resents being forced to buy sets instead of a single item?
And, just what the heck is microfiber?
The next item on today’s agenda is to set up the sewing machine and patch my fitted sheet. Have I mentioned that I hate sewing? On the bright side, I can’t get any testier.
