Just a Day in the Life
Tue., August 20, 12:59 PM
Just a Day in the Life…
Usually I would rather write about my experiences or opinions because there’s really not that much going on around here these days. I keep to some general routines in order not to lose my train of thought, but I’m not one of those people who can’t break the routine.
My son, on the other hand, is so compulsive that he would rather be late to work than miss one activity of his morning routine. Y’know, his exercises or the crossword puzzle could wait till later.
Anyhow, this morning I was not online during my second cup of coffee because there was a thunderstorm, and my mind was talking to itself. So I thought I would share a few of those goodies.
The storm and its aftermath delighted me. At least we have a break in the hot weather. One of the strange (or annoying) things about our little house is that it is not easy to cool. U.D. and I both put window air conditioners into our rooms in order to protect our computers. Husband has an oversized AC in his room. It’s too big for the room, as I told him when we were buying it, but there was a male standing by – just another customer – who persuaded him that he needed the big one. (It’s like big screen TV’s; men just love them, even if they have to go outdoors and watch through the window!)
Anyhow, we cooled the bedrooms but not the front of the house, because the kitchen-living room-hall is one big area with no doors. I could foresee huge heating-cooling problems if we ever went for central air. As it is, we have “zoned heating” but have to make sure that all the front thermostats are set the same… The biggest problem is that really hot air seems to collect in the hall outside the bedrooms unless someone leaves a door open. The best way is for Husband to donate a bit of his oversized AC, but then Cat will get into the room. Horrors! I don’t know what the problem is, Cat never stays in there.
Speaking of cats, I’m not naming any more of them. These days the colony consists mostly of gray tabbies that all look alike, and I don’t know any of them except Dos-a. There seems to be only one kitten this year. That is, only one after the foxes got through; I know there were at least three potential mothers this spring. That baby is never out playing by himself; there are as many as five gray tabbies guarding him all the time. As I said, I will not name him, but there is a computer-related name all ready for him if someone wants to catch him and take him home. Black and white with cow spots? You do the math.
One of the things that drew me to this house – more than thirty years ago – is the feeling of living out in the woods. Even though we’re within walking distance of the business district of a small city – a mile or so – our house is on the edge of a salt marsh. The view from most of our windows is just green, trees and bushes. Of course, Husband let a lot of bramble grow so that he’d have less grass to mow, and in that sense much of our property is wasted. Brambles are related to roses, and for maybe a week each year we have blossoms. On the other hand, we tend to see a lot of wildlife.
When I was home all the time, I used to sit outside and watch the birds. Flickers stop here in the autumn and spring, on the way to wherever they’re going. If they came in August, I knew we were in for an early winter. Without being an expert, I could name robins and starlings, cardinals and blue jays, meadowlarks and chickadees. This spring I saw two little gray birds I didn’t recognize, and I watched them for a while. I realized they were young, as they sort of hopped from branch to branch, trying out their wings. Then I noticed a blue jay above them, kind of demonstrating. When they got high enough, she flew from the tree down to my roof, and after a while, they followed her. I had never before actually seen a mother bird teaching her babies to fly.
I’ve mentioned the foxes in our woods, but in other years, we’ve had raccoons. One raccoon, watching Ricky, our kitty of some years back, scratching on the door, also scratched the door when the food dish was empty. Impudent little devil. One summer we had a skunk with twin babies. She never caused us any trouble; we just had to watch for them all because at that time Husband often worked nights, leaving just as the nocturnal creatures ventured out. “They’re cute,” he said. “Sure,” I told him, “but don’t get in their way!”
We’ve had such temporary visitors as deer, woodchucks, and wild turkeys. One year there were a couple of mallards. The female had an injured wing, and her mate stayed with her until she was ready to fly again, even though all the others went without them. You like frogs? We get a full crop of peepers every year. How about spiders? This morning’s rain knocked down a beautiful web I didn’t want to touch. It stretched from our house to the one next door.
I did my morning things, made coffee, oversaw Husband’s meds, checked my sugar. Congratulate tattod nanny on how well she’s following doctor’s instructions. There are times when you’d swear it ain’t gonna help. In the past couple of weeks I’ve been watching my diet and trying to walk every day. I was doing well till today, when I feel as if all I got for my efforts was tired legs.
Melon was a good buy this week but, as it turns out, not for us. Husband doesn’t want any. U.D. can’t eat much. Neither can I. So, even though it only cost me 88 cents, I’ll feel bad about throwing away about half of it. I bought a small piece of watermelon, because the store finally had the seeded kind I like; I’ll bet I throw most of that away too, because I’m the only one. It turns out that, despite the higher cost, I might just as well buy a single serving of precut fruit. Otherwise I’m just making trash, and guess who’s responsible for carrying out the trash these days.
That's "just a morning..." Maybe I’d just better get dressed and go to work.
