Archive for the ‘Just Saying’ Category
I think I’ve survived my bout with the flu and it appears the worst is over. My ribs are still killing me from all the coughing but that will pass in a few days. What I need most right now is to get up and out of the house to enjoy the beautiful weather that’s expected for the next few days. The good weather and a little yard work will be just the thing to get me moving again in the right direction. It’s time to change clothes and begin my Spring in a proper fashion.
My better-half is already out and about and doing her gardening thing and she’s awaiting my arrival. The herb garden is in grim shape so that’s where I’ll start. It appears that due to the heavy snow cover this winter most of the plants survived and are beginning to poke through the ground already. I’ll just need to replant the basil and parsley which are annuals and a couple of thymes that didn’t make it. That to me is a good winter result. In almost every winter since moving to Maine I’ve found it necessary to replace on average of eight to ten plants.
The neighbor’s outdoor cat should be really happy too. The catnip is already two inches high and there are a bunch of tiny little footprints already in the area from his nightly visits. That dumb cat loves getting stoned on that catnip.
I’ve just about given up on growing thyme and I’m really tired of replanting and replanting with nothing to show for it. We use a lot of herbs in our cooking which requires harvesting and drying them each Fall for storage. I try to harvest only thirty percent of any plant because any more than that will kill them. The thyme seems to be so delicate that if I harvest any of the plant at all it doesn’t survive the winter. I could try a large number of plants and take just a little from each but we don’t use enough thyme in our dishes to justify that.
It’s noon already and I’ve cleaned at least eight bushels of dead plant material from the garden. Things are looking good here but we have a few more things that require our attention as well. My better-half loves lilac plants so last year I purchased her two as a birthday gift and we planted them along the side of the house. They made it through the winter and appear very healthy. Unfortunately the amount of sun they get in that location could be better. After some discussion yesterday we’ve decided they need to be transplanted elsewhere.
My better-half spent her morning creating a new flower bed in front of the house that receives more than eight hours of full sun each day. We just finished transplanting the lilacs to their new home and I expect them to easily double in size by the end of the summer. Once they start blooming that wonderful scent will make sitting on the deck a lot more enjoyable.
We just finished cleaning up the remainder of the debris from the backyard. It’s surrounded on three sides by woods and believe it or not trees make one hell of a mess. More goodies for the compost pile which is beginning to look more like a compost mountain. Thank God I use a lot of it each Fall to re-energize the gardens but it really does pile up quickly.
It’s early in the year but all of my better-half’s efforts from last summer are beginning to pay off. She has daffodils, tulips, and many others flowers already in bloom and the front of the house looks fantastic. It’s time for us both to put the tools away and call it a day. These kind of days are always hard work but it’s well worth it. It’s always been a great way for us both to clear our heads, forget about all of the everyday nonsense, and just dig in the dirt for a while. It’s a great stress reliever and way cheaper than therapy.
It appears that I’m finally on the mend from this damn virus that’s been kicking my ass for the last week. I still sound like someone’s gravely voiced uncle but I can live with that for a few more days. Being sick is a triple curse for me. First your sick as a dog, second your stuck in the house usually in bed, and thirdly you can’t stop coughing. You can only read so much before you’re forced to watch television and there’s the rub. It’s like being shot and then hung.
These last few days have convinced me to consider canceling our TV service when the current contract expires. I can’t take the endless commercials and the low caliber of programming that has slowly been turning my mind and everyone else’s to mush. I’ve had it with all of the “redneck” programs that make all of us look like effing hicks to the rest of the world. It’s ironic that the program that supplied me with the information needed to cancel my subscription, I saw on TV.
I remember back in the day when cable TV was a new novelty. The way it was initially sold was an ad campaign that was total and absolute BS. It was called "Pay TV" then and we were all assured for a small monthly fee we would be commercial free forever. Then slowly but surely the fees began to grow, the commercials returned in a big way, and all of a sudden it’s costing me upwards of one hundred and fifty dollars a month for viewing programming that is almost fifty percent commercials.
When I began approaching retirement I decided to simplify by life. I got rid of my old land-line telephone, all of my premium channels, and returned to just a basic cable package. The cable company then added surcharges and taxes which brought my monthly figure almost back where it started before I cancelled the premium channels.
Then I moved in with my better-half who was burdened with an almost $200.00 a month bill of her own. We immediately took steps to reduce our combined bill but Time Warner is a devious enemy. We reduced everything back to basic cable but with our Internet charges we were still paying over a hundred dollars a month. The cable companies claim it’s impossible to offer a menu type system where you order the channels you really want and aren’t forced to pay for thirty or forty you never watch. How convenient.
We cancelled a large portion of our package but since it changed our "bundling" (the newest word used to screw all of us) they couldn’t lower our costs all that much. After it was all said and done we were still paying $110.00 a month after the surcharges and BS fees were added. We were both unhappy with the results of our efforts so we cancelled all of our Time Warner’s services except for the broadband Internet. We then subscribed to the Dish network for two years and were initially charged an introductory price of $38.00 a month for one year. They told me that after the first year the monthly price would be increased somewhat. The first year passed and the price increased with fees and surcharges to $68.00 per month. I’d call that more than substantial.
Arguing with cable companies is useless. They have their own agenda which is to get as much money from us as they possibly can and believe me, nothing else matters. I think a reasonable price for Internet and basic cable should be no more than $85.00 a month with fees and surcharges. Any more than that is just highway robbery.
We’ve reached the point where desperate times call for desperate measures. At the end of our current contract with Dish we’ll be canceling the satellite cable package and retaining only the Internet service from Time Warner. We’ve decided to then subscribe to Netflix ($9.99 a month) for an endless selection of movies and Hulu Plus ($7.99 a month) for almost any TV programming we’d like to see. Our total cost at that point will be approximately $57.97 a month, well within what we consider a reasonable cost. Another added plus is that almost all commercials programming will disappear from our life.
This is a trend that seems to be happening everywhere by many of us. It gives the old saying “vote with your feet” new meaning. If enough people walk away from these cable monopolies then changes will occur and prices will begin dropping.
You are disgusting! I wish I had a dollar for ever time someone has said that to me. Normally it’s a women who has been raised and brainwashed into believing that all men are the most crude and disgusting animals on the planet. I understand their feelings to a point but I hate people who broad brush groups with facts that may or may not be true.
I don’t find myself any more or any less disgusting than most women. As human beings our entire everyday existence is disgusting. I’m about to lay some facts on you that you’ve probably never heard. You women out there who insist that men are more disgusting than women, pay attention. We get out of bed every morning just like you and go about our life doing all the little normal things that you do. We brush our hair, we sleep in a bed, we go to the bathroom, and a thousand other things that all of us humans pay little or no attention to. If you’re one of those obsessive/compulsive folks with issues about germs and dirt you might want to stop reading now. This is sure to upset you more than just a little. And ladies, after reading the following list you may have to rethink calling us men disgusting. All human beings are disgusting in one way or another including yourselves.
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An average person’s yearly fast food intake will contain 12 pubic hairs.
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Most of the dust underneath your bed is actually your own dead skin.
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A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day.
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A toothbrush within 6 feet of a toilet can get airborne bacteria from flushing.
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According to U.S. FDA standards, 1 cup of orange juice is allowed to contain 10 fruit fly eggs, but only 2 maggots.
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An average adult produces about half a liter of flatulent gas per day, resulting in an average of about fourteen occurrences of flatulence a day.
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Every day, the average person swallows about a quart of mucous.
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More than 40,000 parasites and 250 types of bacteria are exchanged during a typical French kiss.
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One in three motorists pick their nose while driving.
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The average office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet.
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There are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people in the world.
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You inhale about 700,000 of your own skin flakes each day.
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On a daily average you will inhale 1 liter of others anal gasses.
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An average person will consume 12 pubic hairs in their fast food annually.
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If you swim one hour in a public pool you will intake 1/12 liters of urine.
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Diarrhea induced E.Coli was found on 10% of coffee mugs in the U.S.
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Annually you will shake hands with 6 men who have recently masturbated and did not wash their hands.
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Through contact with door knobs, counter tops, and other daily objects your hand will come in contact with 15 penises a day.
I think I’ve made my point in as a disgusting way as I can. Everyone now stand up near your computer, laptop, tablet, or smart phone and repeat after me. WE ARE ALL DISGUSTING! Thank you for your attention.
This has been a slow news day for me. I was so excited to complete my room remodel that I celebrated a little too much and got stupid a whole lot. The sun was shining, the temperature was in the high sixties, and I was on the deck catching some rays and loving life. Portions of our deck are protected from the wind so I was hot and sweaty in the sun but then when the wind shifted the temperature dropped about fifteen degrees. I didn’t let it phase me or so I thought.
Last night at nine I started feeling a bit flushed and then a little clammy. Right as I was going to bed I felt that well known indicator of bad things to come, a scratchy throat. I hoped and prayed I was wrong but I knew I wasn’t. At three in the morning I woke up coughing and with a light fever. At four I was awakened because I was having difficulty breathing from congestion in my head and chest. It was quickly becoming a really bad day.
I seem to have lost the good health battle to a rather fast moving virus of some sort. I honestly don’t think it’s the flu because of the speed at which it’s progressing. I’ve been low on energy all day today and been doing all of the normal run-of-the-mill remedies to help myself through this. Lots of liquids, rest, an occasional throat lozenge, and a few Tylenol. It’s now four in the afternoon and things are status quo.
I hate being sick and confined to bed but my better-half (the female warden of this prison) has laid down the law. I’m in freaking jail with no chance of parole at least until the fever breaks. I’ll only be allowed out to play with the other kids after I start feeling better and when I stop being a whinny baby (her choice of words, not mine).
So this posting will lack my normal sarcastic bent because my head hurts and I’m in dire need of a lengthy but loving back rub. The warden says if I’m good I can watch some TV and she’ll make me some chicken soup. Screw the soup, I want a really detailed and thorough sponge bath with all the trimmings. It would lower my rising temperature, clean my filthy body, and give me a cheap thrill or two if she does it just right.
So that’s it for today. I can see the warden heading my way with that Nurse Ratched look on her face. I hope she’s not going to try that enema thing again. LOL
This is the day to celebrate. My remodeled room is for all intents and purposes completed. I’ll be adding all the pretty little bells and whistles over the next few weeks like a new fan, outlet covers, a closet organizer, and a new heater cover but the tough stuff is done. It’s been a long winter working on this room but I succeeded in getting it done on time and within budget. All of you will also be glad to know that I won’t be boring you with any further bitching and complaining about it, a Win/Win for us all.
In order to celebrate this accomplishment my better-half came up with a perfect solution. She felt it was necessary to make the rounds of area antique shops to look for a few things to put in the new room. Since this room was remodeled primarily for her use she desperately needed one large piece of furniture and a number of smaller decorative items. Who was I to argue?
We didn’t go very far from home for our first stop and while I’m not a big shopping fan I entered the building with the best of intentions. It was filled to the brim with just about everything you could think of making it a long drawn out effort to see everything in one short visit. I may not be a career shopper like my better-half but I can still spot a good item from a distance. I saw a small desk that must have been close to eighty years old being used to display many other smaller items. Since we both decided we would be decorating the room a little more eclectically, I thought it would make an excellent vanity for all her lotions, jewelry, and the ton of other female accessories she owns. Normally when I make these kinds of suggestions, she will just smile, pat me on the head, and tell me it’s just not her style.
She stood there for five minutes checking it out. Without saying a word she walked around it, touched it, smelled it, and then told me to measure it. She walked away to another area of the store to look at something and said nothing further. I measured the desk, she nodded, but continued her shopping. I figured that was an unspoken "No thank you".
Then I was dragged nearby to look at a 1955 era dinette set. It had an oval table, four chairs and a leaf to extend the length of the table. I love Retro but I didn’t think she’d be all that interested in that sort of thing. This dinette set was in almost new condition and would fit perfectly in our kitchen’s breakfast nook. She had me measure the table size and when I was finished we walked to the main checkout area to talk with the store’s owner. In five minutes she talked the owner into dropping the price of the dinette set fifty bucks and then told the women we were going home to do a few room measurements but would return shortly.
We drove to our house, took the required measurements, and immediately returned to the store. We bought both items without any further discussion and after a couple of trips later had everything back at our home. To say I was stunned is a huge understatement. I’ve known her for more years than I like to admit but this was the very first time she made this kind of decision in such short order. Her usual decision making process is to not make a decision. Over the years on a number of occasions we missed out on really good buys because she wanted to wait and think about it for a while. We’d return the next day and find the items purchased and gone.
In my opinion any progress made in these matters is a good thing. It was a huge shock to see her so taken with something that she could deny her urge to wait. It’s nice to know that no matter how well or how long you know someone, they can still surprise you.
It was a great day, we made two excellent purchases, and we’ll be enjoying them for years to come. Good for us.
Everyday seems like an adventure to me and not always in a good way. I constantly people watch like everyone else but most things that make me the craziest occur in retail stores, specifically at the checkouts. I worked for retail companies for almost twenty years and hated every minute of it. Companies are always preaching "Good Customer Service" but it never seems to happen. The reason is simple. You need good people as customers to start with. Here’s a partial list of recent things that make me want to scream and run from the building.
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Store Checkout Lines – Just once I’d love to get into a checkout line and be rung out immediately and leave smiling and happy. I’ve been waiting for that for decades but it never seems to occur. It’s always the wrong lane for me. I could have one guy in front of me with six items and as soon as I line up behind him the cashier has to page for a price check or has to send an employee back into the store for a price because no one responded to the damn page. If it’s like this for everyone else then we have an even a bigger problem than I first thought.
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Express Lanes – Don’t even get me started. Fourteen items or twenty items, it doesn’t matter how many. I guarantee the person in front of me will have fifty freaking items. If you say something then you’re the asshole. If you don’t then you end up being pissed off all day and taking it out on someone else either in another store or at home.
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Line Jumpers – The store opens a new register when your third in line at a busy one. Before you can react, the people five places behind you in your line dash to the new register. I have a new term for you to mull over, "Store Rage". It’s these little things that begin to accumulate over the months and result in bigger and more interesting arguments at the most inopportune times.
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English Speaking Cashiers – I love diversity as much as the next guy but you can’t hire people who don’t know the language of the customers they’re taking care of. Simple right? I guess not. Part of the problem is that out of every five cashiers hired, four either fail the background check or the drug test.
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Chatty Cashiers – I hate to say this but they’re normally a chubby women in her fifties who wants to be everyone’s best friend and confidant. She spends more time yakking about stupid stuff than checking your purchases out. Please, shut the hell up, smile, and get me the hell out of the store.
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Stupid Customers- Don’t show up at the registers with a bunch of products that are either missing bar codes or price tags. Don’t ask the cashiers to do price checks for you while there are twenty people in line behind you. Could someone be any more ignorant? It happens all the time.
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Coupon Freaks – I love nothing better than being behind a women with forty items in her cart and a stack of thirty coupons that must be checked individually. The only thing worse is when the cashier discovers that more than half of the coupons are outdated or the customer is trying to scam her using incorrect products. Do your freaking shopping at three in the morning for God’s sake where you take all the time you like sorting through your bag full of coupons and the women with Food Stamps behind you can just wait. She’s probably just buying booze and cigarettes anyway.
I could continue this rant for another thirty paragraphs but I hope you’re getting my point. This posting was prompted by my last twenty visits to Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, and a host of others. I actually feel a lot better after venting like this but it’ll start building again as soon as I go shopping the next time. I really don’ t anticipate any improvement so expect another posting just like this in September. It’ll take that long to really piss me off again.
The straw that broke my back this time came to my attention from my better-half who still works for a major retailer. She’s front-end manager who’s required to babysit a large group of girls (not women) in their late teens and early twenties who really don’t want to work. They apparently live for drinking, partying, and screwing everyone they can get their hands on. The turnover is high as you’d expect but hiring really good employees is difficult when they pay slave wages. They recently hired a cashier who barely spoke English and who didn’t understand our monetary system. And they wonder why their customers are outraged when a cashier can’t make the correct change even after the register tells her how much it is.
I won’t even start with my experiences with the bastards using cell phones and texting while I wait impatiently in line behind them. Kill me I’m begging you.
Thank God for Amazon, Ebay, and Internet shopping.
Another sunny and warm day here in Maine. I’m already getting spoiled by all this good weather and it isn’t even May yet. I wasn’t all that motivated today but after a couple of cups of good coffee I was raring to go. I had a few errands to run and decided to get them out of the way early.
I first made my way to my favorite book store to return a few paperbacks and to buy a few more. When you read as much as I do it can get very expensive very quickly so a cute little store like this is a god send. I returned five novels and repurchased six new ones for a grand total of $13.00. As always I also get fifteen or twenty minutes of excellent and intelligent conversation at no cost. It’s nice to find a person who is well read and can speak on almost any subject and keep it interesting.
After returning home with my bag of guilt, that once-a-month fast food sin I permit myself, I sat on the deck and ate a thick, greasy, juicy, luscious, and heartwarming hamburger. I can’t even explain what an evil pleasure it gives me along with some salty, oily, and scrumptious french fries. You know when the slop your eating and clogging your arteries with is good when you‘re required to wipe your hands and arms to remove the excess salt and oil. Soooooo effing good!
After partaking of my weaknesses for bad food the guilt was almost unbearable (I did say almost). I decided as penance that I needed to do something worthwhile today which led me to the workshop for primer and painting supplies. I primed a section of my remodeled room, got paint all over me, and then said the hell with it. I cleaned up, took a shower, and settled into the living room with my X-Box. Nothing like a couple of hours of roaming through the world of Harry Potter to relax a person. It was great as always.
My better-half came home from work and surprise, surprise, neither of us felt much like cooking. Into the car and off to our favorite sports bar, The Strike Zone. It just so happened to be “all you can eat” haddock night. So in the spirit of the moment we sat there with a couple of good drinks and stuffed ourselves with all the haddock we could eat and it was incredible. There was one low point to the evening which will require me to drop a note to the chef on my next visit. They have the absolute worst coleslaw I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. Any person serving coleslaw that tastes that bad should be beaten and then arrested and then have his ass kicked again.
I wish I could be a kinder and gentler person but but when someone screws up my coleslaw it really pisses me off. I think I may need some food style anger management.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by death. While in the service and during my years as a police officer I was forced to see a great deal of it. I’m unshockable by death itself but not in the ways in which some people exit this reality.
I’ve been a big fan of the annual Darwin Awards for decades because they highlight the funny and odd ways people die. It’s not really macabre because humor makes dealing with almost anything easier. The Darwin Awards pick out a few selected incidents each year and give a fairly graphic description of their stupid, funny, and sometimes ironic deaths. I guess my one wish would be to die in any fashion that keeps me off their list. Dying in a stupid or embarrassing manner is just not acceptable.
I always knew there were many deaths that the Darwin people chose not to publicize so I decided to do some research of my own. Here are a few that caught my attention even though they didn’t make the cut for Darwin. They are from many countries and cover many decades of time.
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In New Orleans in 1985 a guest at a party for lifeguards celebrating their first drowning-free swimming season in memory drowned Tuesday, the director of the New Orleans Recreation Department said today. Madlyn Richard, the department director, said the body of Jerome Moody was found on the bottom at the deep end of a department pool as the party ended. She said Mr. Moody, who was 31 years old, was not a lifeguard, but four lifeguards were on duty at the party.
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Jim Fixx died in 1984 (ironically his arteries were plugged with too much cholesterol). He left a legacy of thousands of joggers and runners that he introduced to the pleasures and benefits of jogging and the sport of running. His book, The Complete Book of Running, became a best seller among running books. When Jim first took up running in the 1960’s, he weighed 220 lbs. By the time his book was published, he had trimmed down to 159 lbs, and was an accomplished runner.
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An ice cream truck driver in Thailand died while laughing in his sleep. Damnoen Saen-um, 52, laughed for about two minutes yesterday and then stopped breathing, the Nation newspaper reported. Damnoen’s wife tried to wake him but he kept laughing. An autopsy suggested that he might have had a heart attack. "I have never seen a case like this. But it is possible that a person could have heart seizure while laughing or crying too hard in their sleep," said Dr. Somchai Chakrabhand, deputy director-general of the Mental Health Department.
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A 38-year-old lawyer with the Toronto law firm of Holden Day Wilson, did indeed plunge to his death from the 24th floor of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower in front of several horrified witnesses. The firm’s spokesperson said “He was testing the strength of the window. There was a lot of joking about how the window wouldn’t open on a hot day. Apparently, it was the second attempt [at testing the window] that one of them popped out and he went through."
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A church organist was found dead at his Teesside home naked inside a giant plastic bag. Ian Kemp, 48, from Stockton, was found alone in his house bound by his wrists and shins, an inquest heard. A vacuum cleaner was also connected to the bag and it is believed Mr Kemp died after the machine had sucked all the air out of the bag. Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffield said such incidents were sometimes connected to sexual gratification.
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"Escape artist The Amazing Joe Burrus, a recovering drug addict, wanted to give back to society by performing a Houdini-like stunt for a rehab-clinic benefit in 1990. For the act, he was covered under six feet of dirt and wet cement in a locked coffin while bound in chains and handcuffs. After the nine tons of glop were poured on, the coffin collapsed and Burrus was buried alive."
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Brent Tyler and Chelsea Tumbleston (both 21) worked together as waiters at the Wild Wing Café in Columbia, South Carolina. Now this is the Deep South: You must understand that here, lovebirds follow strict courtship rituals. Brent told Chelsea she was pretty as a picture. Her heart a-pitter-patter, Chelsea told Brent he was a most worthy gentleman caller. Then they went for a midnight fuck on the roof. We know they waited to get naked until reaching the building’s metallic pyramid-shaped roof because their clothes were found there. Their nude bodies were not so lucky, discovered lifeless on the street 50 feet below.
I recently had someone tell me in conversation that death by fire was a “terrible way to go”. I think he was full of it because in my humble opinion there is no good way to go. I’ve had people tell me they’d prefer to die while making love. Sorry, I’ll pass on that one too. I never want to die no matter what the circumstances. I plan on going kicking and screaming all the way.
It seems to me that this one little room remodel has consumed me for a very long time. It continued today much to my chagrin. I thought I’d finally begin the priming and painting to move this project into its final stages but I was wrong again. I decided to do one last up-close inspection before starting to primer and after completing that inspection I put the paint and supplies back in the workshop and returned once again to the joint compound to make a few small repairs. Nothing pisses me off as much as realizing I’m not as meticulous as I thought.
I put down the plastic sheeting one more time, slopped some more joint compound around, and now I’m forced to wait until tomorrow before I can again smooth it out. Another freaking day lost that I could be doing other things but can’t. This project needs to be completed and over. I need to keep in mind that I can’t rush things because if I do I’ll be creating even more problems. So I’ll shut up now and get back to work.
It’s now a few hours later and the minor repairs have been completed to my satisfaction. Of course, my better-half arrived to conduct her own inspection and make a few comments which always makes me a little crazy. She was somewhat kind and took it easy on me because she knew how pissed off I was. So now it’s time to kick back for a few hours and try to change my focus from drywalling and painting to the garden and yard cleanup.
I briefly checked in on the progress of the Boston bombing but there wasn’t much new to hear. I realize it’s too early to expect anything new but like every other citizen of this country I’m angry and want justice and some dark and savage revenge on the fuckers responsible for this outrage. Again I’m forced to wait for results. I’m a very impatient person and waiting makes me effing crazy.
I have a little extra time today to catch up my reading. I normally like to read one book at a time but I find myself with three different books only partially read. I’ve been skipping from one to the other and it’s a little distracting. On top of that, one book is on an e-reader (science fiction), another is a large and bulky hardcover (non-fiction), and the third an old tattered paperback (fiction). It’s effectively ruining all three stories for me and it’s time for me to fix things. I plan on finishing the sci-fi today which should be easy enough with only a couple of hundred pages remaining. Then tomorrow I’ll knock off the non-fiction book after finishing the first coat of primer and paint in this freaking room.
The next few days are expected to be sunny and clear but not particularly warm. I plan on spending some quality time with my camera and maybe walk a few quiet miles through some nearby woods. It’s a little early in the season to expect much in the way of photographs but it’s really more about getting out the house for a few hours. Believe me, it will be a pleasure to take photo’s of anything that isn’t covered with or standing in snow.
C’mon springtime.
Let’s add up the tally for today. My better-half has a day off, that’s one. The sun is shining and the day is clear, that’s two. I’m sitting enjoying my morning caffeine, that’s three. The yard and home are in desperate need of attention and cleanup, that’s four. Do you have to guess what’s coming next or can you do the math.
A sunny yet cold day that’s deceivingly enticing can be instantly turned into a backbreaking, ball-busting labor camp by my better-half who’s heavily intoxicated with a killer dose of Spring Fever. I’ve again been assigned the position of worker bee while the Queen barks orders as she lays on her comfortable chaise lounge on the deck. I exaggerate a bit for maximum effect since I know she’ll be reading this later.
Clean that porch, lift that barge, tote that bale, rake the yard or you’ll land in jail. What more can you ask for but a huge amount of work that needs doing and a person who stands by to assist you in doing them in the proper order. This is just the beginning of another Spring that forces all Maine residents to get up and get moving.
You need to understand that the growing season in the state of Maine is about fifteen minutes long. Winter starts in late October and lasts into May. Then you have a few weeks of rain and mud and all of a sudden it’s June. If you plan on your garden being successful without fear of frost you must wait until mid June before planting. That gives you about ninety days to grow your garden, harvest the fruits of your labors, and begin preparations for the coming winter. So complaining about the Spring cleanup is a total waste of time. The work must be done quickly but never silently. I work a lot better when I can schedule a few “bitch breaks” to make myself feel better.
We made a great deal of progress today but there’s still a lot of work ahead. I finished up in mid afternoon and we returned to the house to be hit with the Boston Marathon bombing news. Our sympathies go out to those families who’ve suffered the ultimate loss and those with maimed or wounded members. It’s a sad fact of life that these killers are still out there and we’re still as vulnerable as ever, even after spending billions on prevention.
I only hope our current administration shows more resolve in dealing with terrorism than it’s shown in the past. The Presidents speech last night didn’t fill me with confidence. I would have thought that Mr. Charisma could have shown a bit more emotion or actual concern. I guess his charisma only kicks in when he’s talking about himself. I can already picture his possible cynical political maneuvers from this tragedy. This may give him the excuses to push for armed drones flying over American cities armed with Hellfire missiles to kill suspected terrorists. God help us all!
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