Category: Life

S*** happens

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A Million Dollar Dinner

It was a beautiful night here in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, clear sky and a temperature of 24 degrees (or 76 Fahrenheit, if you prefer).  We decided to sit outside on the patio to eat dinner.  It is Friday night and the culinary artist formerly known as Señora Weinhaus went simple.  We supped on a green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a homemade pizza with lots of mushrooms and anchovies.   “Mmm, mmm good”, as Gomer Pyle used to say after a tryst.

As tasty as dinner was, what made the price of admission worth it was the floor show.  We were treated to 20 minutes of antics by 4 hummingbirds flitting around, using the feeder, and fighting over position on it.

There are 5 stations on the this feeder, but there seems to be some sort of hummingbird protocol for this particular feeder Continue reading “A Million Dollar Dinner”

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Sex Education in the 60s

An email exchange with my brothers had me reminiscing about how sex education was handled in the sixties… the 1960s smarty pants.

From my mother, and I have no idea what sparked her comment to the prepubescent me. At the time it seemed totally out of left field.

“God meant for men and women to be together, that is why their private parts fit together like a key in a lock.”

The best I can recall this was the last time she mentioned anything of a sexual nature to me.

And from my father, on the occasion of the 17 year old me washing the family car with a bosomy blonde.  It was not quite up to the Cool Hand Luke scene, or in retrospect maybe it was for my father!

“A cat was napping on the railroad tracks. A train came along and chopped off his tail. He turned around to see what had happened to his tail. While he was inspecting the damage another train came along from the other direction. It chopped off his head.

Know what the moral of this story is?

Don’t lose your head over a piece of tail.”

And that is the last I heard from him on the subject.

Forget about sex education in the schools, it was not taught.  Heck, I could not even buy condoms as a teenager in Rhode Island.  I am thankful to this day that I did not reenact Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones. And very lucky.

Keep well.

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My new favorite way to eat fish

When I lived in Tulsa and Mississippi I fished quite a bit.  When I lived in Memphis I did not due to traveling every weekend back to St. Louis.  When I moved back to St. Louis initially I  also did not fish much.  Working 9 hour days and commuting 1 1/2 to 2 hours each work day did not leave a lot of free time.  What free time I had I chose to expend else where.

Run the tape forward and now I am retired.  I have started fishing again as every day is Saturday.  Since the government sees my  income as only social security they chose to send me a stimulus check I did not want or need. But since they sent the money, I was going to cash it.  “Well then,” I said, “Let’s spend it on something vaguely foolish.”  I bought a fishing kayak made in the USA.  I figured that would jump start the economy a wee bit.  Owning the kayak Continue reading “My new favorite way to eat fish”

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Cultural Diversity – How Many Continents Are There?

I am working with several iTalki.com Spanish teachers/tutors from different countries to get a wide range of accents and styles. Every couple weeks I visit with a young woman, Micaela, from Coca, Ecuador.  Coca is in the northern part of the country at the confluence of 2 or 3 rivers in what looks to me to be Amazonian Jungle.  I do know the primary industry of this town is petroleum.

Micaela is very personable, very intelligent and a great conversationalist. She is trained as an accountant, which in this country would imply a 4 year college degree.   I’m not sure what her educational background is, Continue reading “Cultural Diversity – How Many Continents Are There?”

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This pandemic is real people…

A few weeks ago I posted an article, The Pandemic Blues – Take II. In it I detailed several things that happened to me during a round of golf that disturbed me in relation to folk’s attitude towards the corona virus pandemic.  I then mentioned passing a popular bar/restaurant on my way home that is close to the golf course.  It caters to a working class crowd,  and is a nice place to grab a cold one and a bite to eat.  What I noticed that day was how crowded the parking lot was, to the point of overflowing.  And how I could not imagine social distancing taking place in there.

The last 2 or 3 times I have been golfing over in Illinois, the bar has been closed.  Today at the golf course there was a young man  behind the counter who I knew and knew to be from the area.  I asked him if he knew the story about why the bar was closed.

Well yes he did.  It turns out 2 of the waitresses tested positive for COVID-19.  They were going to just close down the place for a couple days for a “deep cleaning”, he told me.  He then went on to relate that there was a cluster of 20  COVID-19 cases in a small town close to Columbia, IL  When they did the contact tracing they all went back to the bar!  So they have closed the bar down for 2 weeks.  I suppose that works to… I’m not really sure.

I can only hope when they reopen they test their employees a little better and force their customers into practicing social distancing.  I do not really see the later happening in this particular establishment.

We all need to take care and realize that this is a real and serious pandemic, and that it is far from over.

Keep well.

 

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Where have I heard that before…

The transcendent Señora Weinhaus loves to read, but of late due to health and (shhh…) aging issues she has been having difficulty doing so.  I thought perhaps if I got her an eReader whereby she could control the font and other factors it might bring this enjoyable activity back into play for her.

After researching the matter I landed on the Kobo Clara HD, mainly as it was touted as the best choice if you want to use third party options, like say, your public library.  Kindle was the best choice if you want to tap into the Amazon universe of eBooks.  But with a world of free eBooks available from the library and other sources, “why buy?” said Señor Tacaño.

I pre-ordered the unit the first of May for delivery at the end of May.  I then told my bride that I had a present coming for her so she could bathe in the delight of anticipation.   The release date was set back and the eReader finally arrived today, at the end of June.  That might have been a bit too much anticipation.

Fedex had dumped the box on our front porch, and the only way I knew to look for it was an email saying it had been delivered. They had also accidentally left a package for the neighbors across the street, whom I knew were home.  I am not a big fan of the way deliveries are done these days.

Back from my curmudgeonly aside…

I grabbed the box and headed upstairs to find the mistress of our abode.  I opened the package and took the eReader out to give to her, and I found myself saying, “I thought it would be bigger.”  Then nagging memories came rushing back and I thought, “And where have I heard that before?!?”

Keep well.

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Keep Well, Go Well

I just finished listening to the audio book of Alan Paton’s  Cry, The Beloved Country. This is a wonderful book in whatever format it is experienced.  However, the reader of the audio book was absolutely perfect, pegging the South African accents of various peoples.

The book was published in 1948 and set in 1946.  It is a book of many flavors including that of a cautionary tale.  Knowing a little of the history of South Africa after  Continue reading “Keep Well, Go Well”

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Sure, why not…

This started shortly after my bride retired in 2013.  She had spent the previous 35 years teaching Special Education, and earned a much needed rest.   The last 3 or 4 years had been tough on her as her role had changed from one she loved, teaching, to one she was less than enthralled with, case management.   Same job title and pay, but the documentation for Special Education seemed to have assumed more importance than the teaching in the minds of upper management.  What do they say, “follow the money.”

She was at a bit of loose ends initially, as are most retired folks.  She started responding to an activity suggestion with, Continue reading “Sure, why not…”