Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
13 years ago
Friday, December 17, 2010
in need
Someone once said: "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
That was the time the guy (or gal) needed a friend, and one that would help was indeed a good friend.
Later a wag changed that to: "A friend in need is a pain in the neck."
Makes a difference what side of the need you are on!
I am retired, comfortably retired. (That is not a statement about money but contentment.) I help people sometimes, but when they pull out the checkbook I run. If i like you I may donate some time, but I will not accept money, it messes up my karma. (However Karma figures into all of this.)
And with all of the additional duties I have assumed I do not have a whole lot of extra time to give away.
But a friend called. In all the proper ways I am very fond of her. Her husband is a really specialized mechanic, and his job dried up and the job he got was in another area. Would I come over and give them some advice on fixing their house.
So I went, advised, and offered to do a sheetrock patch that they did not really know how to do. That done I went home (actually any sheetrock work takes about 3 trips, so it was not a quick thing).
As she was on her way out of town she called: "Dave, would you go to the house and repair the linoleum and put the new bath floor in. I will pay you." That last part was poison.
But, they were on their way out the door, and I was cornered.
These repairs look so easy to the ones not doing them, but they are a pain and it will kill a day to do. So, I will delay my trip to Daughter's house by a day. That may put me into a snow storm over the passes, but I have chains and I'll be careful and grr.
And you know I'll somehow forget to even send her a bill!
That was the time the guy (or gal) needed a friend, and one that would help was indeed a good friend.
Later a wag changed that to: "A friend in need is a pain in the neck."
Makes a difference what side of the need you are on!
I am retired, comfortably retired. (That is not a statement about money but contentment.) I help people sometimes, but when they pull out the checkbook I run. If i like you I may donate some time, but I will not accept money, it messes up my karma. (However Karma figures into all of this.)
And with all of the additional duties I have assumed I do not have a whole lot of extra time to give away.
But a friend called. In all the proper ways I am very fond of her. Her husband is a really specialized mechanic, and his job dried up and the job he got was in another area. Would I come over and give them some advice on fixing their house.
So I went, advised, and offered to do a sheetrock patch that they did not really know how to do. That done I went home (actually any sheetrock work takes about 3 trips, so it was not a quick thing).
As she was on her way out of town she called: "Dave, would you go to the house and repair the linoleum and put the new bath floor in. I will pay you." That last part was poison.
But, they were on their way out the door, and I was cornered.
These repairs look so easy to the ones not doing them, but they are a pain and it will kill a day to do. So, I will delay my trip to Daughter's house by a day. That may put me into a snow storm over the passes, but I have chains and I'll be careful and grr.
And you know I'll somehow forget to even send her a bill!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
my heroes are dying
I am loosing my heroes.
My first summer on a lookout tower, in 1955, a radio station in Spokane, Washington broadcast a baseball game a day.
I quickly became a Cleveland Indians fan. (Probably not something I would bring up with a shrink).
They had a fabulous group of pitchers, who at that time were in the twilight of their careers. Bob Lemon, Early Winn and Bob Feller were the ones I remember.
Feller died yesterday at the age of 92. He could throw a ball close to a hundred miles an hour and owned a good many records in spite of spending 3 years in the Navy in World War II, right during his best years. He became a Major League pitcher at the age of 17, then went back to high school that winter to graduate.
Lefty Gomez is said to remark as Feller blew pitches past him: "That one sounded a little low."
Feller was always outspoken. But it was his ability to throw a ball very fast that made him famous.
There aren't many left of his generation, the generation of my parents.
I miss them.
My first summer on a lookout tower, in 1955, a radio station in Spokane, Washington broadcast a baseball game a day.
I quickly became a Cleveland Indians fan. (Probably not something I would bring up with a shrink).
They had a fabulous group of pitchers, who at that time were in the twilight of their careers. Bob Lemon, Early Winn and Bob Feller were the ones I remember.
Feller died yesterday at the age of 92. He could throw a ball close to a hundred miles an hour and owned a good many records in spite of spending 3 years in the Navy in World War II, right during his best years. He became a Major League pitcher at the age of 17, then went back to high school that winter to graduate.
Lefty Gomez is said to remark as Feller blew pitches past him: "That one sounded a little low."
Feller was always outspoken. But it was his ability to throw a ball very fast that made him famous.
There aren't many left of his generation, the generation of my parents.
I miss them.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
trailers
To me life is a big experiment.
Almost every time I go camping I am experimenting with a new piece of gear or a new way of doing things.
We are going to daughter 1’s house for Christmas. They have a good sized house, but there will be 26 or 27 people there some of the time. Space is critical.
“Dad, could you bring your camper trailer, the big one.”
The big one is a 1984 model that I remodeled a while back, after Miriam was diagnosed with AD. My thoughts and my reasoning as I rebuilt it was that it would be a comfortable place for me to live sometime in my life, after I lost her. But her disease has progressed very slowly and I have largely ignored the last details.
The trailer is big, though not huge, and there is the thing about a few details and a license, which would cost for a year and be good for about 2 weeks! Hmm.
We could take the teardrop. It is comfortable to sleep in, even in really nasty cold weather. The issues there are getting up at night, and where to put clothes etc. This is not a camp trip, and we may stay for a week or three.
So I am back to experimenting.
I have one more trailer that I have long considered for a simple re-fit as a small camping trailer. It would be comfortable and it is licensed!
As they sometimes say: “details to follow.”
Almost every time I go camping I am experimenting with a new piece of gear or a new way of doing things.
We are going to daughter 1’s house for Christmas. They have a good sized house, but there will be 26 or 27 people there some of the time. Space is critical.
“Dad, could you bring your camper trailer, the big one.”
The big one is a 1984 model that I remodeled a while back, after Miriam was diagnosed with AD. My thoughts and my reasoning as I rebuilt it was that it would be a comfortable place for me to live sometime in my life, after I lost her. But her disease has progressed very slowly and I have largely ignored the last details.
The trailer is big, though not huge, and there is the thing about a few details and a license, which would cost for a year and be good for about 2 weeks! Hmm.
We could take the teardrop. It is comfortable to sleep in, even in really nasty cold weather. The issues there are getting up at night, and where to put clothes etc. This is not a camp trip, and we may stay for a week or three.
So I am back to experimenting.
I have one more trailer that I have long considered for a simple re-fit as a small camping trailer. It would be comfortable and it is licensed!
As they sometimes say: “details to follow.”
Monday, December 13, 2010
Leon
I started to high school the fall of ‘51.
My world history teacher was Leon. He had graduated from college a couple years before. He was 23 or 24. I remember his wife as being one of the most beautiful women I had seen -- I was 14. (She was beautiful and still is).
Email last night that Leon had a heart attack followed by a stroke. He was the one who could turn a church announcement into a 5 or 10 minute talk, now has trouble talking. He was listed as in critical condition.
We who knew him well knew this day would come. Not this combination, but that something would get him some day. He was one of those larger than life characters that occasionally pop into our lives. Leon kept doing the ever ready bunny gig. He kept popping back into my life.
Leon and I got on great in that history class. The class would not start until I told a joke. I always liked history and I liked the teacher and I got an A. Though I was capable of a lot of those (I had a steady diet later at the University) I did not often then. It was too easy to be lazy and I was "allowed."
The last time I saw Leon, just before our Thanksgiving trip, I hugged him and told him how much I loved him. He hugged back.
He may snap back, but not as the old Leon, I fear.
Life is short, eat your desert.
My world history teacher was Leon. He had graduated from college a couple years before. He was 23 or 24. I remember his wife as being one of the most beautiful women I had seen -- I was 14. (She was beautiful and still is).
Email last night that Leon had a heart attack followed by a stroke. He was the one who could turn a church announcement into a 5 or 10 minute talk, now has trouble talking. He was listed as in critical condition.
We who knew him well knew this day would come. Not this combination, but that something would get him some day. He was one of those larger than life characters that occasionally pop into our lives. Leon kept doing the ever ready bunny gig. He kept popping back into my life.
Leon and I got on great in that history class. The class would not start until I told a joke. I always liked history and I liked the teacher and I got an A. Though I was capable of a lot of those (I had a steady diet later at the University) I did not often then. It was too easy to be lazy and I was "allowed."
The last time I saw Leon, just before our Thanksgiving trip, I hugged him and told him how much I loved him. He hugged back.
He may snap back, but not as the old Leon, I fear.
Life is short, eat your desert.
Friday, December 10, 2010
guilt
I get confused on this guilt thing.
Should I feel guilty when I don’t do much that dad would call “productive?”
I am an artist (two decent universities say I am) who does little art. The fire that should be in my belly is at best a flicker.
Almost any art has limited appeal. In theory I could make a bucket of new pieces and give them to my kids who have no space and no place to put more and more stuff they do not really need.
It might be better to write a book, it would take less space. Shucks a book of poetry could be even smaller, maybe a quarter of an inch thick, but I am a really lousy poet, and that fire never got lit.
While I am dealing with this guilt thing, I am going to get another cup of chocolate, maybe a cookie and like the gal in South Pacific, but paraphrased, I’m going to wash that guilt right out of my mind.
Maybe.
Should I feel guilty when I don’t do much that dad would call “productive?”
I am an artist (two decent universities say I am) who does little art. The fire that should be in my belly is at best a flicker.
Almost any art has limited appeal. In theory I could make a bucket of new pieces and give them to my kids who have no space and no place to put more and more stuff they do not really need.
It might be better to write a book, it would take less space. Shucks a book of poetry could be even smaller, maybe a quarter of an inch thick, but I am a really lousy poet, and that fire never got lit.
While I am dealing with this guilt thing, I am going to get another cup of chocolate, maybe a cookie and like the gal in South Pacific, but paraphrased, I’m going to wash that guilt right out of my mind.
Maybe.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
friends who build fires
When we got home last night, there was a fire going in the stove and the front door was unlocked.
I joked (I thought) to family about how someone had broken into my house, built a fire and left, maybe after a big party where they put everything back where they found them. My joke was not understood by all, but that is the life of a jokester.
My thought was that I had "blamed" the on my friend David who does this kind of thing from time to time. Our house has a LOT of thermal mass and when it is cold for a long period of time, it takes a while to get it warmed up again.
David knows all of this and will often have a fire going, and have had it going when we get home.
That was very good, and I am thankful for the David's of the world.
It was good to sleep in our own bed last night. Shower in our shower, putter in our kitchen and so on.
No matter where it is and how tiny it might be, there is no place like home.
I joked (I thought) to family about how someone had broken into my house, built a fire and left, maybe after a big party where they put everything back where they found them. My joke was not understood by all, but that is the life of a jokester.
My thought was that I had "blamed" the on my friend David who does this kind of thing from time to time. Our house has a LOT of thermal mass and when it is cold for a long period of time, it takes a while to get it warmed up again.
David knows all of this and will often have a fire going, and have had it going when we get home.
That was very good, and I am thankful for the David's of the world.
It was good to sleep in our own bed last night. Shower in our shower, putter in our kitchen and so on.
No matter where it is and how tiny it might be, there is no place like home.
Monday, December 6, 2010
goin' home
Today is another travel day. It is time to go home.
On this particular expedition we have had a couple of days where we drove 650 miles, but today is the shortest leg of our trip, a mere 45 miles!
Two daughters live that close together. That is good, they see each other more often that way, and it makes a shorter journey for us!
Right now I have bread raising, but when it comes out of the oven we will be ready to hit the road. We will stay just one night with daughter two's family (I promised to come back when it was a bit warmer and spend more time).
Mostly I want to go home, and tomorrow after breakfast we will go.
The sad thing is that we won't see much or any of our daughter. She is an RN who works 12 hour night shifts and she will be sleeping the days we will be there, but we will see her husband and the grandkids.
I remember when we lived in Texas, which was only "home" in a very stretchy way. I assured everyone I was a "temporary Texan" even going so far as to keep Idaho plates on our car (it was legal since we were students).
We would come to the NW two times every year. It took three days of 600 mile a day driving to make the trip, but when we got to Amarillo or Wichita Falls, we were eager to get "home" even though it was not really home.
But this time we are going to the home we have lived in for a long time, down the street from friend david and my sister Joyce.
It really is home.
On this particular expedition we have had a couple of days where we drove 650 miles, but today is the shortest leg of our trip, a mere 45 miles!
Two daughters live that close together. That is good, they see each other more often that way, and it makes a shorter journey for us!
Right now I have bread raising, but when it comes out of the oven we will be ready to hit the road. We will stay just one night with daughter two's family (I promised to come back when it was a bit warmer and spend more time).
Mostly I want to go home, and tomorrow after breakfast we will go.
The sad thing is that we won't see much or any of our daughter. She is an RN who works 12 hour night shifts and she will be sleeping the days we will be there, but we will see her husband and the grandkids.
I remember when we lived in Texas, which was only "home" in a very stretchy way. I assured everyone I was a "temporary Texan" even going so far as to keep Idaho plates on our car (it was legal since we were students).
We would come to the NW two times every year. It took three days of 600 mile a day driving to make the trip, but when we got to Amarillo or Wichita Falls, we were eager to get "home" even though it was not really home.
But this time we are going to the home we have lived in for a long time, down the street from friend david and my sister Joyce.
It really is home.
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