Board by the Rules

Our homeowners association (HOA) president, who at the moment is our closest (in proximity) neighbor, is a very congenial man who volunteers much of his time at our local food pantry. He and his wife take personal responsibility for maintaining the subdivision entryway with its abundance of flowers and trees, and he keeps an eye […]

Screwed

This is a story of abject failure that may depress you during the glad tidings of the holidays. I know it depresses me, but I’m forging ahead anyway. My dad was a handy do-it-yourselfer from the word “go.” He maintained his own vehicles. He maintained other people’s vehicles. He repaired household items. He put a […]

Citizen of Industry

Following a day of sloth that really wasn’t as slothful as intended, I woke up yesterday in a manic fit, composed a list for myself, and immediately set about tending to it. No time for blogging; no time for naps; no time to pause and read anything. Yesterday it was all about doing. And even […]

Lassitude

At 5 this morning, when I awoke in horribly untimely fashion, and me with nowhere in particular to go today, I was busily composing today’s post in my head. It was getting away from me, too many directions with not enough discipline, as often happens (sometimes even in the actual posts), and so, instead of […]

Pilgrim Spuds

My job today is to mash the potatoes. We are having a very quiet Thanksgiving, the first in our new house, but there’s no point in having any Thanksgiving at all if there aren’t mashed potatoes. I’m pretty sure that’s what brought the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag together that first year, potatoes smushed down and […]

Sock It To Me

I have a lot of socks. Not only do I have a lot of socks, I have a lot of different kinds of socks, most of which I’m not crazy about. My quest for the Perfect Sock is an on-going process, the trail marked by failure. Time was, I went into Target — any Target, […]

Amazon’ Weather

How on Earth, you are wondering, is he going to get from the weather to Amazon taking over the world? Well, stick with me and I’ll show you. It was snowing last night as Oz and I went out for his nighttime constitutional, which consisted of sniffing along a trail of footprints, perhaps hoof prints, […]

Moving, Possibly Shaking (Out)

Probably about the time Lynn and I purchased our lot here at Riverwalk, one of the then seven houses already built underwent a change of ownership. The new purchasers were a family of four, three of them unknown to me, the fourth someone I’ve been acquainted with most of her life. When we were young […]

Smarter Than Your Average Cat

If you’ll recall, Yogi Bear was “smarter than your average bear” as he went about his day in Jellystone Park, swiping “pic-a-nic” baskets and generally getting the best of the park ranger who tried to stop his shenanigans. Well, today — at least for the moment — this ranger is feeling smarter than your average […]

Going to the Chapel

Matt texted me: “When did you get married?” Now, let’s not tell Lynn, but this was the exact question I had been asking myself just a couple of days before Matt wanted to know, and without putting a great deal of effort into it, I never came up with an answer. I mean, I know […]