Fleetingly Carol

I have never experienced a pandemic, have you? No, I thought not. It is decidedly not a pretty or fun or glorious or uplifting or exciting or wonderful thing at all. Dear Reader, we have all been in some stage of "Shelter at Home" order.  Those of you who continue to get up everyday to go to work, those of you who get up every day to work at home, those of you who stay home to be sure your children continue their education, those of you who stay home and try new things that can be done from home, those of you who are caring for a COVID-19 patient at home: you are all my heroes. It takes courage to get out of bed each day to face the challenges that are out there right now. Keep it up and stay safe, Dear Reader.

I don't want to complain about the weather.  Each day brings its own weather pattern and each weather pattern is for the good of the earth, even the hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes. No matter how uncomfortable, I try not to complain. Sometimes, like right now, it is impossible. It is the middle of August. I expected heat. In fact hot August is here. I drink lots of water. I make certain the animals have access to fresh water and are in a cool place. Dear Reader, I reside in the South of the good ol' U. S. of  A. I expect heat in the middle of August. What I don't expect is the air conditioner to quit spreading its cooling atmosphere in my home. Ugh! Thankfully, I have a job that is located in an air-conditioned building. I have been working late into the night lately.  Oh, it’s not that I want to escape the heat and be a solid support for Old Man as he figures out what to do about the situation, its that I have THAT MUCH WORK! It never ends - the reports, the or

So many books . . . so little time. This saying is printed over and under a stack of books, screen printed on a sweatshirt my friend wears from time to time. I used to think the saying was cutesy, funny. Ah, dear Reader, no more. I have a stack of books on my nightstand and the table beside my easy chair. I thought I would get smart and check some from the library, only to have them become overdue because I wouldn't return them. Then, ebooks came along. I could carry my books with me wherever I went. I have thousands of them now. Another friend refurbished her house recently. She exposed the studs and put little shelves between them, shelves just deep enough for the standard paperback novel. She has these shelves throughout her house, including the bathroom. I am jealous. Old Man says it's perfect insulation. Old Man complains about my books.  He says if I bring one more book into the house, it will fall down. Well, of course, Old Man doesn't think the house will fa

Ah! Love is in the air! Happy St. Valentine Day, Dear Reader. I hope your day was filled with more amour than mine. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm having a great day, but, you see, Old Man isn't home right now. He's working at his very difficult job in his cozy warm office. I'm at home minding the dogs. It all started a couple of months ago. You all know about Girlie-girl, our little black dog who lives in the house. Well, we also have a very big, very black, dog who looks like she is a very mean, eat-you-alive dog in the backyard. I have asked and asked Old Man to get rid of the dog, but, just like a man, he won't listen. I am afraid for the burglar who gains entry to our backyard with the intentions of entering the house through a window will be terrorized and possibly do himself harm trying to get back over the fence when he sees Lady the sad fact is that if the burglar will just be still and let Lady sniff him, he'll have a new best friend who will show h

I know you enjoyed "Fleeting Waterworks Revisited" that I wrote a few days ago. I know because I laughed out loud as I wrote it, so you had to enjoy it. At least that's what I thought at the time. I posted a link on that ubiquitous social networking site that everyone uses to keep up with family, neighbors. You know, the one that took over the gossip across the backyard fence. It's wonderful to keep up with faraway family. I thought it would also be a great place to share with some 'friends' the link to my latest blog. I went to my page, wrote an inviting small paragraph that ended with the link to the latest blog. Then, I did as any good blogger would do, I waited at the stats page to watch the number of hits climb. Only, they didn't. Not one jot. I closed Blogger and went to wash the evening dishes, brush my teeth, and generally wound down for the evening. Of course, before hitting the sack I had to check in the stats page again. I mean, someone mu

Beauty relief (as opposed to comic relief) If you have not had the opportunity to read Fleeting Waterworks, you should do that right now. It will be necessary in understanding Fleeting Waterworks Revisited. Go ahead. I'll wait. La dee da da. La dee da. La dee da  ^da^  da dee da da da. Are you finished already? Ok, let's go. As you can see, I have weak, um, er, pipes. Oh, the trouble this causes. Have you ever been talking to someone and they suddenly cut the conversation and disappear? You thought you had said something to offend, didn't you? Well, dear Reader, I can assure that the most likely cause of the sudden departure was a weak floor. I have the very bad habit of waiting until it is almost too late before I get up to do anything about the overflow. I like to get things done in as timely manner as possible. When I stand up to use the facilities, I also like to have a plan of further action that makes it worth getting up from my comfortable chair. The

What would you do without water? I mean, what if the water utility turned the water off to your home? What would you do? That's what happened at my work last week. The city was doing some work on the infrastructure and had to turn the water off to our side of the street. Thankfully, the water was still on in the building across the street. Dear Reader, just in case you have not guessed yet, I am of an age where a working restroom is critical to my wellbeing. I tried drinking very little, but I drank two cups of coffee before going to work, not realizing relief was going to be so fleeting. Then it happened: the Urge. I stepped out the back door, no one was around. Squeezing muscles as tightly as I might, I began to put one foot in front of another.  The steep steps down the loading dock proved to be a challenge.  Try this, Dear Reader, find a set of steps, squeeze your buttocks tightly and step down. You cannot keep that hold. Go ahead, try it. I successfully navigated the s