Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Strange Conversations

Mr. Fixit and I have some strange conversations. This is the latest example.

When a woman reaches my time of life, simply buying clothing can be a difficult chore. Take blouses (or shirts). Several things have to taken into consideration. For instance, sleeve length. I live in a warm climate so I can't abide long sleeves in summer. But, by the same token, I don't want them so short that the hangy-downy flab that ripples in the breeze on my upper arms shows. Also I like the length of the shirt to cover all the flaws on my torso, back and front. It must button up high enough that my modesty is preserved. I also don't want clingy knits for obvious reasons. Cotton or cotton blends work just fine for me. Since I am a pastel sort of person, I don't wear bright colors, big patterns, and palm trees and parrots blouses. Shirts with all my requirements are scarce. When I find them, I usually purchase more than one in different colors.

I did find the some shirts in a nationally known chain with all my wants and needs. I bought two.

Today while we were running errands I asked Mr. Fixit if we could go back to the same store to see if they had any more in different colors. Then I changed my mind. "No," I said, "if we go today I'll have to go home and change my shirt first." I was wearing one of the new ones I had purchased.

He gave me that look. "Why do you need to change your shirt?"

I explained my thinking. "If I go in wearing this shirt and buy another one just like it, someone may think I swiped the one I'm wearing." It seemed perfectly logical to me.

He said, (get ready) "I'm sure if someone accuses you of stealing, they surely have video cameras in the store which will prove you were wearing the shirt when you came in. When we prove you didn't steal the shirt, we can sue them for $500,000 for falsely accusing you of stealing."

It's a real toss-up. Who's the nut in this family?

BTW, I didn't go shopping for shirts today. Tomorrow is another day, and I'll be wearing a different shirt.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Dusting Off My Soapbox

As I write, the State Senate in my state is debating a "bathroom" bill. Once again, it seems there are a bunch of guys trying to poke their noses into everyone's private business.

I wonder if any of these (mostly) men have ever seen inside a public woman's facility. I know I haven't seen a public man's bathroom, except in movies. I can tell you one thing. Women aren't like men; they don't stand next to each other in the open and let it all hang out, so to speak, to do their business. We (females) have little cubicles that, unless the door is broken, provides enough privacy. I am 70 years old, and I have never, in all those years, seen a woman disrobe in a public restroom. If a man did come into the ladies' room, he would probably be surprised to see nothing more than hand washing, hair combing, and freshening of lipstick. In fact, I seldom see anything other than hands being washed. I can't think that any woman would object to having anyone--men, women, children, gays, transgenders, etc.--seeing this hand washing ritual. Somehow I don't think that a gay man would find the acts of grooming and hygiene titillating. In fact, I don't think a transgender man would be interested either. Of course, a cross-dresser could be interested, but's that a whole other question. Can you imagine a cross-dresser dressed in his favorite alternative outfit walking into a man's restroom? What would the good senators who know what's best for everyone say when the cross-dresser (who is probably not gay) explains that he was prevented from using the women's room by law.

In the local news today, there was an article about a local sheriff addressing a group of conservatives. He said that if a male (of any ilk) went into the bathroom with his wife or granddaughter, he would whip his tail. He also said, "Sin is sin, I don't care what it is. He even admits to having a gay in his family, and he gives him hugs (gasp!) Perhaps he sees the whole bathroom law as southern gentleman chivalry. I think I prefer respect to chivalry in most cases. The sheriff several times referred to females as "chicks."To me, that is not chivalrous or respectful.

The whole "bathroom" legislation is just silly and unnecessary. It is an excuse for some people to force the whole population to conform to their ideas of how we should all live. Those who are of a different religion, race, or sexual orientation have to be legislated out of existence. Now that I think about, maybe it not silly--it's darned scary!

Friday, April 1, 2016

Water, Water Everywhere. . .

but not a drop to drink.

Yesterday about 6:00 pm I head several masculine voices coming from outside. In our neighborhood, you seldom here raised voices except for children and dogs. I looked out and saw a city truck and two men. One had a tool and he was turning off the water at a water thingy in the middle of the street. Then one ran back past our house. I looked out and saw the young man next door and the man across the street standing at the end of the young man's driveway. I should mention, too, that it was a rainy day.The water was pouring out of a hole that had been blown in the street at the end of the young man's driveway. Then I noticed our yard was flooded! The water was running into the yard of the house behind us. That yard was worse than ours. Then several city trucks showed up with several more men and two pieces of heavy equipment (backhoes, I think). By that time it was 6:30 pm. They said a water main had broken. The water kept coming.

They shut off the water to all the houses in our circle. I also heard that that the larger subdivision up the hill from us also had lost their water. Even after shutting off everyone's water at the meters and the at the main, the water kept coming.

The workers started digging while continuing to pump the water that was filling the hole as fast as it was dug. Those guys worked all night. I woke up about 3:30 am. It was thundering and the rain was pouring. The men were still working in a waist deep hole. They turned on the water about 7:00 am. When I left for my walk this morning at 9:30 am., two more city trucks showed up and starting cleaning us the mud and debris from the driveway of the young man's house next door. They also washed the street in from of the house.
I don't think they have finished, but at least the water is flowing into our houses.

It's not easy when the electricity goes off, but doing without water is almost impossible. I hope those city workers know how much we appreciated their efforts.