Thistle While You Work
01/08/20 07:17
It's August, boys, and girls! Here's hoping that is all well with you and yours. I don't know who the hell I'm referring to here but there's probably somebody out there who could use some good wishes as it were. Just to keep me in a summertime mood I'm putting on a little Jimmy Buffet for a little background music while I plug away at this here journal. I've never been a Jimmy Buffet fan so not sure how much of it I can stomach but it's light and airy so maybe it will help me get up and out of my doldrums so I can finish this stuff.
You know what they say about writing. You need to just start and if you start then you'll be on your way. On your way where who knows. I don't have anything, in particular, to touch on so I'll have to conjure up some nonsense and see if that doesn't get the job done. Did I mention that I can't seem to find a damn tube for my bike tire? I've been to a handful of shops around town and they are plumb out of them. I've been kicking around Amazon thinking that I'd find a quick solution. Well, not so much.
You see, this coronavirus thing has created a lot of demand for bicycles since it is a good solo kind of thing that people can do without coming into contact with people who might make them sick and maybe even die. I recall walking into Walmart a month or so ago and looking at the bicycle section. I noticed that it was completely sold out of stock.
There wasn't a Schwinn on the floor. I know, I know. I'm dating myself. They still make Schwinn's. Right? I felt bad thinking of all the little boys and girls, not to mention their parents, who had their hearts set on taking up biking during the pandemic only to find that there wasn't a set of wheels available for sale on which to ride off into the sunset. I guess it's true what they say about life-sucking and then you die.
But I am not without skills and relevant experience when it comes to fixing up bikes. I've been patching my tubes and replacing my tires ever since I owned my very first bike. I was a real Ernie truth be told. It can be a messy job so it's just easier to buy new ones rather than trying to patch up the old ones until and unless buying new ones doesn't work for whatever reason. So I threw a couple of patches on the tube and I'm sitting here a day later looking at a tire and a tube that hasn’t gone flat sitting overnight so I'm thinking that I'm good to go.
Were it not for my visit to the dentist the other day I would be off and running, or biking, straight away this morning. I have instructions to take it easy for a couple of days before doing any exercise so I'm doing just that. All in all, I'm not in any pain so I'll not be taking the pain medication prescribed. I know some people take that stuff for kicks but not me. I would just as soon throw it in the trash as look at it. That said, having it on hand just in case has been comforting. I've been taking the other meds as prescribed although I've also had no use for the extra strength Ibuprofen. Those babies will likely be set aside for future emergencies.
I'm doing my best to be a good patient but sitting around without exercising doesn't cut the mustard. I don't do "nothing" well. I do want to make sure that I pass my follow-up test with flying colors so I'll be sticking to the prescribed regimen short of using the meds which I've already discussed. Considering the work done, I should have more pain or discomfort but that is not the case. I am a fucking marvel of modern science I am. That has to be the caffeine talking because I don't know that guy. Thank the baby Jesus that we're only talking one tooth here.
I'm a day further along now and today I get back in the saddle. I'm talking biking here. Did you think I was talking about horses? What am I? A fucking equestrian? Being slightly incapacitated after my procedure at the dentists I'm probably better off riding my bike than getting on a horse. Then again, I'm a little concerned about being too cautious.
You know what they say about changing up your routines. It's best to stay in the saddle, there's that damn equestrian reference again, and continuing to do what I've always done. For me, that means riding like the wind, riding like I haven't a care in the world, riding like I'm the only guy on the road, and riding like a man on a mission. It's an edgy proposition but there you have it.
Nancy made an interesting observation yesterday. She noticed that a lot of people had wood deliveries sitting in their driveways and she wondered aloud if those deliveries might have something to do with a potential resurgence of the coronavirus over the coming winter. "Maybe we should order some wood," she lamented wistfully.
We do have some wood but it's been sitting around for a few years so I don't know if it's good to go or not. It's one of those things I need to lookup. We have both electric and oil so I'm not too concerned about running into a problem if we do see a resurgence but more is always better.
It might be worth noting that the local bird population seems to be very active in and around our bird feeders these days. I don't think that's any indication of end times, but stocking up on calories ahead of what could be a nasty winter is a scenario that is, at a minimum, worthy of consideration. Then again, birds don't do that sort of thing. Right? They probably get while the getting is good and count their blessings that food is abundant. It's that whole living in the moment sort of thing. Good for them.
Why then, do you suppose the finches are emptying my thistle feeder faster than usual? Is it because they like the particular brand of thistle that I use to fill the feeder? Are there more finches than usual because I've been feeding them so well? Maybe they've been reproducing in record numbers because of the plentiful food supplies provided by yours truly. They are a pleasant species to have around to be sure. They could pass for parakeets if you didn't know better. Their plumage is pleasing to the eye and their little breasts plump with the color of the sun. If I was a finch, falling in love would not be a bridge too far.
Evan, Nancy, and I took a drive this afternoon looking for a farm stand where we might find some nice local corn and maybe a container or two of local blueberries. It seems there are more stands than one might expect given the number of places we drove by on the way to one place that I knew had what we were looking for. With grilling in mind, I also found some summer squash, zucchini, onions, and a couple of other niceties that I wasn't expecting but was pleased as punch to tuck into my basket.
When we arrived we were only the second party to enter the place and that put the joint at maximum capacity in the era of the coronavirus. Not having to rub elbows with other strangers was fine with me and I think it easily passed muster with the Missus. She's about as jittery as you can get about this whole thing so she was happy to see limits imposed on customers coming and going from the establishment. Since it was more of a large stall than a small store with a well-defined entrance and exit, all the better. Evan was smart to wait behind in the car while we did our shopping.
I have to believe that things were fairly well picked over given that we arrived late afternoon. The peaches remaining were small enough to cup in the palm of your hand; The tomatoes leftover were greenish and maybe picked a tad prematurely; There were no large squashes, the sort you stuff and bake, to be found; and the blueberries, although plentiful, are probably going to be bitter if the fact that there were so many available says anything at all about their quality. Is that a Woodpecker at my thistle feeder?
Explaining the unexplained is not my cup of tea. Nancy mentioned to me yesterday that the book she was reading on her iPad had duplicated pages and no matter which page she turned to it was always the same. Well, I'd never seen such a thing but I thought to myself that it's possible. I don't know about you but I need to see these things for myself. For one, it seems unlikely since I've never seen it before. I didn't doubt her but if she could show me then we could go from there. Maybe we need to transfer the book all over again. Maybe something got lost in the process when we first put the book on her iPad. Anything is possible.
What if she couldn't reproduce it? What if she couldn't prove to me that what she was saying was true? What if it turned out to be a figment of her imagination? Would I be polite and pass it off as nothing more than a miscue of sorts? Is there something more sinister and maybe even something more malevolent going on? I had the same book on my iPad so I took to turning various pages and page after page went as expected. There were no duplicates and no matter how many pages I tuned it was always the same. If I looked at her askance it was not intentional. It is not for me to question these things but sometimes you just have to wonder.
And then there is Evan's thing. You know, the thing. Sorry, I couldn't resist a Joe Biden-ism. Anyway, Evan comes out of his bedroom talking nonsense about his air conditioner. You know, the one we just had installed. He says that it was acting funny. It would turn off and on and then it would do some other things that suggested that it might just not be working correctly. We just bought the damn thing! So I asked, politely, of course, that he do his best to duplicate the issue and wee would take it from there.
Well, wouldn't you know it? He could not duplicate it. Nancy thought that maybe he rolled over on to the remote when he was half asleep and that seemed plausible but Evan indicated quite clearly that that was not the case. He promised to do a little more sleuthing and even with the extra effort he could not get it to do what he thought it was or was not doing earlier in the day.
That was a relief since I wasn't looking forward to having to return the unit to Home Depot. I didn't want Home Depot to become one of those stores where you always had to wonder whether or not what you were buying was of dubious quality. I could get to that place fairly quickly if this air conditioner turns out to be a dud.
So I don't know where I'm going with all of this other than to say shit happens sometimes. And, if what they say about tragedies happening in threes, and let me just say that Nancy's and Evan's oddball occurrences are not a tragedy by any stretch of the imagination, then there must be one more oddity coming down the pike. I'll be on the lookout.
You know what they say about writing. You need to just start and if you start then you'll be on your way. On your way where who knows. I don't have anything, in particular, to touch on so I'll have to conjure up some nonsense and see if that doesn't get the job done. Did I mention that I can't seem to find a damn tube for my bike tire? I've been to a handful of shops around town and they are plumb out of them. I've been kicking around Amazon thinking that I'd find a quick solution. Well, not so much.
You see, this coronavirus thing has created a lot of demand for bicycles since it is a good solo kind of thing that people can do without coming into contact with people who might make them sick and maybe even die. I recall walking into Walmart a month or so ago and looking at the bicycle section. I noticed that it was completely sold out of stock.
There wasn't a Schwinn on the floor. I know, I know. I'm dating myself. They still make Schwinn's. Right? I felt bad thinking of all the little boys and girls, not to mention their parents, who had their hearts set on taking up biking during the pandemic only to find that there wasn't a set of wheels available for sale on which to ride off into the sunset. I guess it's true what they say about life-sucking and then you die.
But I am not without skills and relevant experience when it comes to fixing up bikes. I've been patching my tubes and replacing my tires ever since I owned my very first bike. I was a real Ernie truth be told. It can be a messy job so it's just easier to buy new ones rather than trying to patch up the old ones until and unless buying new ones doesn't work for whatever reason. So I threw a couple of patches on the tube and I'm sitting here a day later looking at a tire and a tube that hasn’t gone flat sitting overnight so I'm thinking that I'm good to go.
Were it not for my visit to the dentist the other day I would be off and running, or biking, straight away this morning. I have instructions to take it easy for a couple of days before doing any exercise so I'm doing just that. All in all, I'm not in any pain so I'll not be taking the pain medication prescribed. I know some people take that stuff for kicks but not me. I would just as soon throw it in the trash as look at it. That said, having it on hand just in case has been comforting. I've been taking the other meds as prescribed although I've also had no use for the extra strength Ibuprofen. Those babies will likely be set aside for future emergencies.
I'm doing my best to be a good patient but sitting around without exercising doesn't cut the mustard. I don't do "nothing" well. I do want to make sure that I pass my follow-up test with flying colors so I'll be sticking to the prescribed regimen short of using the meds which I've already discussed. Considering the work done, I should have more pain or discomfort but that is not the case. I am a fucking marvel of modern science I am. That has to be the caffeine talking because I don't know that guy. Thank the baby Jesus that we're only talking one tooth here.
I'm a day further along now and today I get back in the saddle. I'm talking biking here. Did you think I was talking about horses? What am I? A fucking equestrian? Being slightly incapacitated after my procedure at the dentists I'm probably better off riding my bike than getting on a horse. Then again, I'm a little concerned about being too cautious.
You know what they say about changing up your routines. It's best to stay in the saddle, there's that damn equestrian reference again, and continuing to do what I've always done. For me, that means riding like the wind, riding like I haven't a care in the world, riding like I'm the only guy on the road, and riding like a man on a mission. It's an edgy proposition but there you have it.
Nancy made an interesting observation yesterday. She noticed that a lot of people had wood deliveries sitting in their driveways and she wondered aloud if those deliveries might have something to do with a potential resurgence of the coronavirus over the coming winter. "Maybe we should order some wood," she lamented wistfully.
We do have some wood but it's been sitting around for a few years so I don't know if it's good to go or not. It's one of those things I need to lookup. We have both electric and oil so I'm not too concerned about running into a problem if we do see a resurgence but more is always better.
It might be worth noting that the local bird population seems to be very active in and around our bird feeders these days. I don't think that's any indication of end times, but stocking up on calories ahead of what could be a nasty winter is a scenario that is, at a minimum, worthy of consideration. Then again, birds don't do that sort of thing. Right? They probably get while the getting is good and count their blessings that food is abundant. It's that whole living in the moment sort of thing. Good for them.
Why then, do you suppose the finches are emptying my thistle feeder faster than usual? Is it because they like the particular brand of thistle that I use to fill the feeder? Are there more finches than usual because I've been feeding them so well? Maybe they've been reproducing in record numbers because of the plentiful food supplies provided by yours truly. They are a pleasant species to have around to be sure. They could pass for parakeets if you didn't know better. Their plumage is pleasing to the eye and their little breasts plump with the color of the sun. If I was a finch, falling in love would not be a bridge too far.
Evan, Nancy, and I took a drive this afternoon looking for a farm stand where we might find some nice local corn and maybe a container or two of local blueberries. It seems there are more stands than one might expect given the number of places we drove by on the way to one place that I knew had what we were looking for. With grilling in mind, I also found some summer squash, zucchini, onions, and a couple of other niceties that I wasn't expecting but was pleased as punch to tuck into my basket.
When we arrived we were only the second party to enter the place and that put the joint at maximum capacity in the era of the coronavirus. Not having to rub elbows with other strangers was fine with me and I think it easily passed muster with the Missus. She's about as jittery as you can get about this whole thing so she was happy to see limits imposed on customers coming and going from the establishment. Since it was more of a large stall than a small store with a well-defined entrance and exit, all the better. Evan was smart to wait behind in the car while we did our shopping.
I have to believe that things were fairly well picked over given that we arrived late afternoon. The peaches remaining were small enough to cup in the palm of your hand; The tomatoes leftover were greenish and maybe picked a tad prematurely; There were no large squashes, the sort you stuff and bake, to be found; and the blueberries, although plentiful, are probably going to be bitter if the fact that there were so many available says anything at all about their quality. Is that a Woodpecker at my thistle feeder?
Explaining the unexplained is not my cup of tea. Nancy mentioned to me yesterday that the book she was reading on her iPad had duplicated pages and no matter which page she turned to it was always the same. Well, I'd never seen such a thing but I thought to myself that it's possible. I don't know about you but I need to see these things for myself. For one, it seems unlikely since I've never seen it before. I didn't doubt her but if she could show me then we could go from there. Maybe we need to transfer the book all over again. Maybe something got lost in the process when we first put the book on her iPad. Anything is possible.
What if she couldn't reproduce it? What if she couldn't prove to me that what she was saying was true? What if it turned out to be a figment of her imagination? Would I be polite and pass it off as nothing more than a miscue of sorts? Is there something more sinister and maybe even something more malevolent going on? I had the same book on my iPad so I took to turning various pages and page after page went as expected. There were no duplicates and no matter how many pages I tuned it was always the same. If I looked at her askance it was not intentional. It is not for me to question these things but sometimes you just have to wonder.
And then there is Evan's thing. You know, the thing. Sorry, I couldn't resist a Joe Biden-ism. Anyway, Evan comes out of his bedroom talking nonsense about his air conditioner. You know, the one we just had installed. He says that it was acting funny. It would turn off and on and then it would do some other things that suggested that it might just not be working correctly. We just bought the damn thing! So I asked, politely, of course, that he do his best to duplicate the issue and wee would take it from there.
Well, wouldn't you know it? He could not duplicate it. Nancy thought that maybe he rolled over on to the remote when he was half asleep and that seemed plausible but Evan indicated quite clearly that that was not the case. He promised to do a little more sleuthing and even with the extra effort he could not get it to do what he thought it was or was not doing earlier in the day.
That was a relief since I wasn't looking forward to having to return the unit to Home Depot. I didn't want Home Depot to become one of those stores where you always had to wonder whether or not what you were buying was of dubious quality. I could get to that place fairly quickly if this air conditioner turns out to be a dud.
So I don't know where I'm going with all of this other than to say shit happens sometimes. And, if what they say about tragedies happening in threes, and let me just say that Nancy's and Evan's oddball occurrences are not a tragedy by any stretch of the imagination, then there must be one more oddity coming down the pike. I'll be on the lookout.