Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
Perfecting Technique
Our wonderful friends, Barb and Mike, joined us over the weekend to help kick-off our week of vacation up at the lake. You may be able to spot me in the photo, practicing the art of vacating. I’m not sure I have it mastered yet, so it is a good thing I have a full week to perfect my technique.
Family Fun
We are thoroughly enjoying friends and family for a couple of days before most everyone will return to their respective homes and Cyndie and I will linger in our paradise for the week. Yesterday was filled with activity on the lake. We went kayaking and got close to one of the young eagles perched in a dead tree. It presented a beautiful sight when it finally spread its wings and leapt to fly with the (most likely) sibling that had floated into the vicinity over the bay. We swam a bit after we got back to our beach, and then, when the gusts of wind seemed sufficient, hopped on the catamaran sailboat that was recently added to the collection of boats on the beach. The wind was inconsistent, but we enjoyed a few good runs that more than sufficed to make it a special treat.
After more lounging on the beach, there was some tubing and skiing to be had with the speedboat, and then, as more folks arrived to the beach, plenty of silly roughhouse play on the floating rafts. I played some guitar. We played a few card games, and a round of Scrabble. Then it was Coop’s Pizza for dinner, picked up and brought back to the cabin.
This morning, the youngest nephew, Beck, (almost 4-years-old) came downstairs looking for me, since everyone else was up communing in the porch. I was in the bathroom. He knocked, and when established it was me, announced, “I’m going to wait right here for you.”
Then, “Are you pooping?”
Who can deny such an innocent question? I affirmed my activity and then gave him a play-by-play that I was washing my hands. We marched together up to the porch where he gladly pronounced what he had found me to be doing. That was a big hit with the crowd.
Weak Justification
When what matters, doesn’t seem to matter, and the words we’ve already heard, all seem to fall hollow, landing on deaf ears, it can increasingly feel like the hopelessness running rampant in waves of public opinion, while the masses clap along in perfect time, laughing in desperate hysteria, all come from the sudden realization that the backup singing on the song, “A Little Help From My Friends,” as performed by Joe Cocker at Woodstock, was actually provided by men singing falsetto.
At the same time, it’s as if the music that can be heard was actually coming from Joe, himself, performing an amazing rendition of “air guitar.”
If it weren’t for the miracle of all the movie cameras capturing the scenes, we would be forced to rely on snopes, or notarized certifications of eye witnesses.
There. Don’t you think it sounds like I need a vacation?
Great Anticipation
It is Thursday and I am now just two days away from a week of vacation, when I will be free from the demands of the day-job. Since I didn’t get a chance to take my usual week off for a bike trip back in June, and Cyndie and I didn’t take the 3 weeks off in July to travel to Portugal, I have claimed a week in August, while there is still some summer in the air. I intend to catch up on some sleep. I plan to watch some movies. I hope to create some art. I’ll probably take some pictures, and swim in the lake. Most important, I won’t be at work. I will be at our favorite getaway place, at the lake in the woods of Wisconsin.
One of the movies I want to watch is a repeat. I want to see “Dances With Wolves” again. Last night we stumbled on a television broadcast of the making of Dances With Wolves. That movie was made over 20 years ago. My, how time flies. It was interesting to see interviews with people who have aged since the filming and to recognize the passing of that amount of time by the changes in their faces. Obviously, the actors who were just kids at the time, show the most dramatic transformation.
I am a big fan of the movie. I do not feel swayed by any of the negative things I have heard in relation to it. The back story of the making of the movie revealed a fair number of instances where the project seemed unlikely to succeed. It is a marvel that all the potential hurdles were overcome and the final result received such acclaim.
I am looking forward to seeing it again. I am also looking forward to overcoming any hurdles that may arise to threaten my planned week of vacation. I am enjoying the simple pleasure of anticipation for the week that is to come. It is the first step in a process of getting the most out of time-off from work.
Unintentional Memories
For all the lambasting I do about commercials and advertisements, I remember way too many of them. I guess it is logical. Instead of simply ignoring them, I allow myself to notice them and become annoyed. Then I end up finding the tag lines stuck in my head for the rest of my life.
I suppose the fact that I also am all-too-willing to brag up the few specific ads that I find clever or funny, may contribute to my affliction of “commercial memory” syndrome.
I am afraid that this is a classic case of me not practicing what I preach. I proclaim that the majority of advertising doesn’t deserve our attention. But, then I end up allowing the ads to catch my attention and take me prisoner. It is not something I am proud to admit.
Some of the memorable lines are understandable, for the almost universal attention they garnered:
“Only YOU can prevent forest fires.”
“Where’s the BEEF?”
“A little dab ‘ll do ya!”
“Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!”
“Mikey will eat it!”
Why do I also still remember the following lines?:
“Think about it, won’t you?”
“There’s no whipped cream on mine!”
“Haveyougotthe microwave workin’ yet?”
I don’t remember what products these lines were meant to sell, but I still find myself reciting them at various odd times, in informal social settings. It is like having an odd ‘tick’. Only my peers seem to recognize the true origin. Anyone too young to have heard the original commercials must wonder what the heck I mean, as they try to interpret a literal meaning from the phrases.
I guess that could explain the looks I frequently get from them in response to my ramblings.
Lake Scenes
While I’m on a run of lake scenes, I’ll post another one as a closer of our fantastic weekend. It was so beautiful that we stayed till Sunday evening and drove home with hardly a moment to spare, getting unpacked with minimal time to get ready for a few hours sleep before Monday morning demands my attention. The activity level didn’t leave me much time to write. In addition to the power lounging we did on floating mats in the lake, we got in quite a few family card games. I enjoyed an incredible run of favorable luck over the weekend, and I was the winner in every game I played. I mentioned to Cyndie that we should maybe make a run to the casino, something I never actually do. I think it surprised her a bit. I quickly talked her out of it, because, instead of truly believing my luck would make that a logical thing to do, I expected that my luck was probably all used up at that point. We did enjoy some additional luck last night, though, in the form of an incredibly picturesque display of the sunset during our drive home to the Twin Cities. It wasn’t far off from the color show we were treated to on Saturday night, when we rode the pontoon boat home across the lake after dinner at Famous Dave’s restaurant.
Haunted Dreams
Earlier this week, I came across a commentary, by T. D. Mischke, in my local paper, The StarTribune, that resonates with the way I see things in this world. I remember having the same feeling that he relays, when I first saw the statistic that the drought and famine in Somalia has killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 in the last 90 days. This continues to happen right now, as you read this! It breaks my heart to realize that I remember similar news being reported from Ethiopia when I was young. There were campaigns, back then, aimed at solving the problem of world hunger. I think most people felt that would eventually happen, similar to the way humans have solved other health epidemics through the years. It makes the current story that much more demoralizing to learn.
Children are dying in a famine as we go on blithely about our lives
I hope you will take a moment to click the link and read his words.
There are plenty of comments following the article that offer different perspectives of ways to interpret this current situation, but I think tens of thousands of children dying of famine stands as a despicable reflection on the human race, regardless the finer details. Will we ever get it right? I have my doubts. Meanwhile, we have to go on about our lives, blithely, or not.
If I am who I ought to be, or who I one day hope to be, those dead little kids shall haunt my dreams tonight. T. D. Mischke
Kitty Watch
We are on Kitty watch at our house lately. It is quite possible that we are experiencing the last days of her life. Repeated visits to the veterinary clinic have yet to reveal any absolute diagnosis to explain her difficulties, which are all related to processing food. She may simply have cancer of some form. We have declined to purchase any invasive diagnostic procedures thus far, and are relying on the informed advice of the professionals to direct our care. Kitty is receiving some medication to calm her stomach, but the results of that treatment, thus far, are inconclusive.
She seems to have an awareness of her situation. For days, she ignored food. Since the medication, she has returned to her bowl a couple of times and timidly made attempts to eat. It only seems to come back up as vomit. It doesn’t appear to inspire her to try again after outcomes like that.
We are treating this situation as hospice care and doing what we can to make her comfortable. I find it a bit awkward to be assuming she is on death’s door without quite knowing for sure. Is it time to say my goodbye, or will she survive this and be back to her old self in time? I’m not quite sure. But the general feeling around the house is that she is closer to dying than she is to recovering.
It is noteworthy how much this influences the atmosphere of our household activities. Kitty has been a special addition to our family, despite my occasional grumblings otherwise. When she is not feeling well, none of us are, either.
What Vacation?
So here it is, Monday again. The past weekend was one of those, for me, that was wonderfully enjoyable (except the part where I worked Saturday morning). But, as enjoyable as it was, it wore me out more than a week of work. I need a vacation.
Even after sleeping in a bit (and not even getting out of bed until about noon on Sunday) my activity of the second half of the day, on top of the long day of activity on Saturday, however pleasant, left me exhausted by the end of the weekend. And this, just at the time that I must embark on another week at the day-job. I am ever so grateful to have the opportunity to work at my day-job, and to receive the benefits that come with having a job. Don’t get me wrong. It may truly be as simple as my being due for a vacation.
I didn’t get to go on my annual bike trip this summer and our planned trip to Portugal was canceled after Cyndie broke her knee. I never got around to replacing those losses with a plan for something else.
So, the next question Cyndie and I are pondering is, what vacation? On our tightened budget, due to her being out of work all summer, this will likely lead to a week-long visit to our paradise at her family’s vacation home in Wisconsin.
There is a new hammock up there that I have hardly had a chance to break in yet. At this point in my life, that is sounding like just the kind of activity I would like to take on for a week at the end of summer.
Stray Electrons
The mystery of the shocking news is resolved… sort of. I did not have the pleasure of being present yesterday during the visit from an electrician. By the time I got home, everything was solved. Just like that, …solved. I should be pleased, but I am frustrated. I have yet to receive a thorough explanation.
I did have a brief opportunity to speak with the electrician when Cyndie called me at work and put me on speaker phone. He provided me with the news that it wasn’t just the gutter that was energized. That’s almost funny, in hindsight. At first, it was remarkable that the problem wasn’t just the downspout, but it was the entire gutter. Now the electrician was telling me that the soffit and fascia was floating at the live voltage.
We decided on a plan where he would go up into our attic and look for a possible wire in the vicinity of the soffit. My thought, after I hung up the phone, was that the attic on this hot, humid day would be a miserable place. He must have had the same thought.
Cyndie explained later that he decided on his own to do some other investigating before climbing into the attic. He reviewed, once again, which lights, in which rooms, were being fed electricity by the wire on the circuit breaker which we had discovered was energizing the gutter. Then he began to remove the covers from the switches and outlets in the room with an outside wall. This is where it gets a little cloudy.
Somehow, he identified the wire that was feeding electricity to the soffit. He disconnected it and capped it off. Then he pulled in a new wire to replace the one he terminated.
So, it is fixed. All our circuit breakers are back on, and the soffit and gutters are not electrified. But I still don’t know where the (now dead) wire makes contact with something that is tied to the soffit, nor how long that situation has existed.
Something tells me I will be making a little expedition up into my attic in the near future. My curiosity is peaked. However, I’m not so curious that I can’t wait until maybe September to find out.
