What Goes Around
25/12/20 06:34
Man, that rain is coming down in sheets! It's Christmas day for chrissakes. Give it a break! Maybe I should be thankful that it's not snow. The winds are expected to pick up and with gusts closing in on 50 to 60 mph who knows what might happen. Worst case scenario, we lose our electricity and our Christmas chicken stays in the refrigerator. We have a generator and that is one appliance supported so we're good to go there. The stove? Not so much.
I actually find the sound of rain, coming down as it is in waves across the expanse of our rooftop, comforting. There is something to be said for staying out of the elements and staying safe and warm. Snug as a bug in a rug, as they say. It helps to have my good old friend, Lou Rawls, crooning away here in the background as only he can when it comes to singing Christmas music. "Joy to the world, the Lord has come!" Who doesn't love Lou Rawls?
As much as I love the holidays, there is one thing I do not like about the holidays. Everything stops dead in its tracks. Everything is closed on Christmas day so no stores are getting robbed, government is off except for the essential employees and we know they don't do much of anything even when they are working, our country is not at war unless you count the various skirmishes with the Taliban in remote shit holes like Afghanistan, and even talk radio has been muted with replays of old shows replacing the usual cacophony of voices arguing, ranting, cajoling, etc.
"Have yourself a merry little Christmas", sing it Lou! "Faithful friends who are near to us", don't stop now, Lou! Every once in a while the rain lets up, the wind seems less forceful, and I have to wonder if the weather reports might have fallen somehow fall short of the mark with their forecasts. Weather permitting, Nancy can take her usual walk on the beach, I can get my bike ride in, and Evan can hang out with his online friends doing whatever they do. Even on Christmas, it would be like any other day. I'm guessing that doesn't come to pass. "Good tidings to you and all your friends", damn he's good.
It was warm enough yesterday afternoon to be outside so after my bike ride I washed Evan's car by hand here in our driveway. I suppose he can wash his own car but he is not likely to do that so I'm happy to do what I can. Would he run it through a car wash? Maybe. When Nancy asks me why I'm doing it when Evan should be doing it himself, my response is simple and to the point. I enjoy doing it. It's that simple. And when I was done, I tucked his car away in the garage for the night. Men and their machines. Guilty as charged.
Evan knows me well enough to know by now that if I'm around and something needs cleaning, well, gall darn it, I'm going to get busy cleaning it. Isn't that what dads do? I'm all about restoring order where order has lost its way. I'm a man on a mission. Feets don't fail me now. Did I mention that I took things down out and about the yard where I thought they might become lethal projectiles were the winds to even come close today to approaching hurricane force velocity? I'm talking about bird feeders, outdoor thermometers, cheap shovels, and snow rakes. Well, snow "rake" anyway.
I told Nancy as we were going to bed for the night that we ought to crack the window a bit. It would likely tip me off during the night to any surge or adverse changes in the weather patterns. As much as I like the idea of going to bed and not worrying about a thing until I wake up, waking up to a house with no power and maybe even power that has been off for longer than I care to think about, is not ideal. It's always better to know sooner rather than later.
Nancy had a bee in her bonnet yesterday when she read somewhere that Ocasio-Cortez, the New York bartender turned congresswoman, received the vaccine for the dreaded Covid-19 virus. She went off the deep end with a seldom seen vehemence, "Why, of all people, should she be getting the vaccine before people who really need it?"
Part of her rage had to do with what we all know by now about the virus. That is to say, younger people survive it quite easily. I'm not sure how much of it had to do with her disdain for the useless pissant of a politician that we've all come to know as AOC. She's not even our Congresswoman for chrissakes.
Nancy seems particularly tickled with one of the presents she has for me so there's that. I wrapped Evan's present for his mom and placed it under the tree but asked that he write the obligatory, "To Mom, from Evan." I just don't know yet whether that request was a bridge too far or not. He has to be in just the right mood or it won't get done. Not that it matters, really. Nancy will open it and all will be good with the world.
I'm hoping his reluctance to put his name on it, if there is any reluctance, has little or nothing to do with the fact that he didn't have much of a hand in putting it all together. Maybe I went too far this time. Maybe I overplayed my hand. Left to his own devices, I fear that there would have been nothing under the tree from him for his mom so, that being the case, I was not likely to let the chips fall where they may. I can't feel bad about that, or can I? Maybe the fact that I'm writing about tells you all you need to know.
As I look over my shoulder and glance out the window, night has turned to day and I'm not seeing the wrath of Mother Nature one way or another. The trees are swaying a bit here and there but no more than usual. I'm thinking that I need to put my bird feeders back out so my little buddies can have a snack on this oh-so-special day. They've been hitting my feeders pretty hard as of late. I guess I would say that I'm happy to provide them with a meager level of sustenance during tough times. It's true. Winter can be a bitch in bird land.
We might get our chicken dinner in after all. We have two or three dishes we purchased from our local store which we'll happily throw in the mix as we sit down to a nice holiday meal. We have a nice beet salad, a brussel sprout concoction that is to die for we're told, and then we have a nice veggie chili which Evan seems to enjoy very much. I didn't know he prefers a Mexican shredded cheese to parmesan cheese when enjoying his chili so, now that I know that, I made sure we had plenty of the shredded cheese on hand. I'm almost embarrassed to say that we'll be having Stove Top dressing instead of something more elaborate that has been prepared from scratch.
We'll not be opening up any presents until Evan emerges from his bedroom. Oh, and even then, he'll need to be ready and willing to sit down and start opening presents. We're in no hurry really. The presents aren't going anywhere and most of the presents are for Evan so he can go about his day willy nilly as far as I'm concerned. And, as Da used to say, there is nobody chasing us. Nobody indeed. I'm now listening to some classical guitar music and it's lulling me back to sleep slowly but surely. It's beautiful, though. It's the kind of music that I would love to be able to play. Some day perhaps.
Fast forward now to the day after Christmas. Yep, that's how we roll around here. You know the drill by now. Our smoke detectors started blaring at around 4:45 am and it woke me right the fuck up. If someone had told me when we had this stupid system installed that we'd be wakened in the middle of the night on occasion I would have told them to fuck off. I'll stick with my usual array of battery operated detectors thank you very much. At least they start chirping when their batteries start to run low. I'm guessing that is one of maybe many reasons we get these damn false alarms in the middle of whenever.
Santa was good to everyone this year. We had so many presents to open that we found ourselves agreeing to having a second go of it after we all got tuckered out after opening the first raft of presents. I may have said, "Let's give it a rest and we'll open the remaining presents later in the day." I can't say that I recall ever opening up Christmas presents in shifts before so there's that. Nancy did most of the wrapping so kudos to her for bearing a disproportionate share of the work to put this all together. And to think that she spent not a nickel in local stores due to Covid-19. I think she feels badly about that.
I was happy for Evan because he got a lot of things that he can use. Everything really, from remote car starters to accessory hubs for his laptop. And the clothes. My god, the clothes. Nancy got her stick vacuum and I got my biking cap and a nice pair of sports earbuds. It always amazes me that when you're asked a week out from the Christmas holiday what you got for Christmas you are hard pressed to recall them all. Houston, we have a problem with conspicuous consumption! We'll see what can be donated and what can't when the time comes but for today we'll be thankful to the baby Jesus for what we have. Here's a hat tip to you, big guy!
We put the chicken in the oven around 3:30 before taking a quick ride around the block just to get out of the house for a breather before nightfall. Nightfall comes early this time of year. Unlike Thanksgiving, when I think I overcooked the turkey because I didn't use the thermometer early and often enough, I had it out early on this time around and it made a big difference when all was said and done. Tender is the night, baby cakes! The chicken was tender, succulent, and just perfect. I like the pop-up thermometers but you don't often find them in organic chickens. That's just a fact.
We had hoped Evan might join us in having chicken and all the various side dishes we took the trouble of preparing. So much so, in fact, that we inquired ahead of time just to make sure we'd be able to sit down as a family to a Christmas dinner. He's fickle that way so you want to know these things ahead of time. He agreed to the menu but opted at the last minute to have the rest of the vegetarian chili that we bought for him earlier in the week. It wasn't the end of the world, and it was far from being out of character for him, so we all went about the business of enjoying what we had in front of us. When all you have on hand is lemons, you make lemonade.
I was thinking that Nancy might make some of her anise cookies. Evan asked that she not make them so that was that. I don't know if he was afraid that if she made them that he might be tempted to eat more than his share or what. It's anybody's guess with that boy. He probably did us all a favor. None of us needs more cookies. Evan is pretty good about staying away from certain carbohydrates and that goes for most types of bread too. I just don't think he likes the way it makes him feel. He's not articulated as much but we have our suspicions.
Nancy put a call in to her mom in the early evening and Evan joined her in wishing Mrs G all the best on Christmas. I was busy washing dishes so only heard bits and pieces of the conversation. I like it when Evan has the chance to touch base with his grandmother. It happens so infrequently that they're always in catch-up mode when they do talk. It's always good for her to hear his voice and vice versa. They have a nice rapport and it's always a heartfelt and easy conversation. He spent a lot of time with his nana and da as a young boy so I guess you could say, without hesitation, that what goes around comes around.
I actually find the sound of rain, coming down as it is in waves across the expanse of our rooftop, comforting. There is something to be said for staying out of the elements and staying safe and warm. Snug as a bug in a rug, as they say. It helps to have my good old friend, Lou Rawls, crooning away here in the background as only he can when it comes to singing Christmas music. "Joy to the world, the Lord has come!" Who doesn't love Lou Rawls?
As much as I love the holidays, there is one thing I do not like about the holidays. Everything stops dead in its tracks. Everything is closed on Christmas day so no stores are getting robbed, government is off except for the essential employees and we know they don't do much of anything even when they are working, our country is not at war unless you count the various skirmishes with the Taliban in remote shit holes like Afghanistan, and even talk radio has been muted with replays of old shows replacing the usual cacophony of voices arguing, ranting, cajoling, etc.
"Have yourself a merry little Christmas", sing it Lou! "Faithful friends who are near to us", don't stop now, Lou! Every once in a while the rain lets up, the wind seems less forceful, and I have to wonder if the weather reports might have fallen somehow fall short of the mark with their forecasts. Weather permitting, Nancy can take her usual walk on the beach, I can get my bike ride in, and Evan can hang out with his online friends doing whatever they do. Even on Christmas, it would be like any other day. I'm guessing that doesn't come to pass. "Good tidings to you and all your friends", damn he's good.
It was warm enough yesterday afternoon to be outside so after my bike ride I washed Evan's car by hand here in our driveway. I suppose he can wash his own car but he is not likely to do that so I'm happy to do what I can. Would he run it through a car wash? Maybe. When Nancy asks me why I'm doing it when Evan should be doing it himself, my response is simple and to the point. I enjoy doing it. It's that simple. And when I was done, I tucked his car away in the garage for the night. Men and their machines. Guilty as charged.
Evan knows me well enough to know by now that if I'm around and something needs cleaning, well, gall darn it, I'm going to get busy cleaning it. Isn't that what dads do? I'm all about restoring order where order has lost its way. I'm a man on a mission. Feets don't fail me now. Did I mention that I took things down out and about the yard where I thought they might become lethal projectiles were the winds to even come close today to approaching hurricane force velocity? I'm talking about bird feeders, outdoor thermometers, cheap shovels, and snow rakes. Well, snow "rake" anyway.
I told Nancy as we were going to bed for the night that we ought to crack the window a bit. It would likely tip me off during the night to any surge or adverse changes in the weather patterns. As much as I like the idea of going to bed and not worrying about a thing until I wake up, waking up to a house with no power and maybe even power that has been off for longer than I care to think about, is not ideal. It's always better to know sooner rather than later.
Nancy had a bee in her bonnet yesterday when she read somewhere that Ocasio-Cortez, the New York bartender turned congresswoman, received the vaccine for the dreaded Covid-19 virus. She went off the deep end with a seldom seen vehemence, "Why, of all people, should she be getting the vaccine before people who really need it?"
Part of her rage had to do with what we all know by now about the virus. That is to say, younger people survive it quite easily. I'm not sure how much of it had to do with her disdain for the useless pissant of a politician that we've all come to know as AOC. She's not even our Congresswoman for chrissakes.
Nancy seems particularly tickled with one of the presents she has for me so there's that. I wrapped Evan's present for his mom and placed it under the tree but asked that he write the obligatory, "To Mom, from Evan." I just don't know yet whether that request was a bridge too far or not. He has to be in just the right mood or it won't get done. Not that it matters, really. Nancy will open it and all will be good with the world.
I'm hoping his reluctance to put his name on it, if there is any reluctance, has little or nothing to do with the fact that he didn't have much of a hand in putting it all together. Maybe I went too far this time. Maybe I overplayed my hand. Left to his own devices, I fear that there would have been nothing under the tree from him for his mom so, that being the case, I was not likely to let the chips fall where they may. I can't feel bad about that, or can I? Maybe the fact that I'm writing about tells you all you need to know.
As I look over my shoulder and glance out the window, night has turned to day and I'm not seeing the wrath of Mother Nature one way or another. The trees are swaying a bit here and there but no more than usual. I'm thinking that I need to put my bird feeders back out so my little buddies can have a snack on this oh-so-special day. They've been hitting my feeders pretty hard as of late. I guess I would say that I'm happy to provide them with a meager level of sustenance during tough times. It's true. Winter can be a bitch in bird land.
We might get our chicken dinner in after all. We have two or three dishes we purchased from our local store which we'll happily throw in the mix as we sit down to a nice holiday meal. We have a nice beet salad, a brussel sprout concoction that is to die for we're told, and then we have a nice veggie chili which Evan seems to enjoy very much. I didn't know he prefers a Mexican shredded cheese to parmesan cheese when enjoying his chili so, now that I know that, I made sure we had plenty of the shredded cheese on hand. I'm almost embarrassed to say that we'll be having Stove Top dressing instead of something more elaborate that has been prepared from scratch.
We'll not be opening up any presents until Evan emerges from his bedroom. Oh, and even then, he'll need to be ready and willing to sit down and start opening presents. We're in no hurry really. The presents aren't going anywhere and most of the presents are for Evan so he can go about his day willy nilly as far as I'm concerned. And, as Da used to say, there is nobody chasing us. Nobody indeed. I'm now listening to some classical guitar music and it's lulling me back to sleep slowly but surely. It's beautiful, though. It's the kind of music that I would love to be able to play. Some day perhaps.
Fast forward now to the day after Christmas. Yep, that's how we roll around here. You know the drill by now. Our smoke detectors started blaring at around 4:45 am and it woke me right the fuck up. If someone had told me when we had this stupid system installed that we'd be wakened in the middle of the night on occasion I would have told them to fuck off. I'll stick with my usual array of battery operated detectors thank you very much. At least they start chirping when their batteries start to run low. I'm guessing that is one of maybe many reasons we get these damn false alarms in the middle of whenever.
Santa was good to everyone this year. We had so many presents to open that we found ourselves agreeing to having a second go of it after we all got tuckered out after opening the first raft of presents. I may have said, "Let's give it a rest and we'll open the remaining presents later in the day." I can't say that I recall ever opening up Christmas presents in shifts before so there's that. Nancy did most of the wrapping so kudos to her for bearing a disproportionate share of the work to put this all together. And to think that she spent not a nickel in local stores due to Covid-19. I think she feels badly about that.
I was happy for Evan because he got a lot of things that he can use. Everything really, from remote car starters to accessory hubs for his laptop. And the clothes. My god, the clothes. Nancy got her stick vacuum and I got my biking cap and a nice pair of sports earbuds. It always amazes me that when you're asked a week out from the Christmas holiday what you got for Christmas you are hard pressed to recall them all. Houston, we have a problem with conspicuous consumption! We'll see what can be donated and what can't when the time comes but for today we'll be thankful to the baby Jesus for what we have. Here's a hat tip to you, big guy!
We put the chicken in the oven around 3:30 before taking a quick ride around the block just to get out of the house for a breather before nightfall. Nightfall comes early this time of year. Unlike Thanksgiving, when I think I overcooked the turkey because I didn't use the thermometer early and often enough, I had it out early on this time around and it made a big difference when all was said and done. Tender is the night, baby cakes! The chicken was tender, succulent, and just perfect. I like the pop-up thermometers but you don't often find them in organic chickens. That's just a fact.
We had hoped Evan might join us in having chicken and all the various side dishes we took the trouble of preparing. So much so, in fact, that we inquired ahead of time just to make sure we'd be able to sit down as a family to a Christmas dinner. He's fickle that way so you want to know these things ahead of time. He agreed to the menu but opted at the last minute to have the rest of the vegetarian chili that we bought for him earlier in the week. It wasn't the end of the world, and it was far from being out of character for him, so we all went about the business of enjoying what we had in front of us. When all you have on hand is lemons, you make lemonade.
I was thinking that Nancy might make some of her anise cookies. Evan asked that she not make them so that was that. I don't know if he was afraid that if she made them that he might be tempted to eat more than his share or what. It's anybody's guess with that boy. He probably did us all a favor. None of us needs more cookies. Evan is pretty good about staying away from certain carbohydrates and that goes for most types of bread too. I just don't think he likes the way it makes him feel. He's not articulated as much but we have our suspicions.
Nancy put a call in to her mom in the early evening and Evan joined her in wishing Mrs G all the best on Christmas. I was busy washing dishes so only heard bits and pieces of the conversation. I like it when Evan has the chance to touch base with his grandmother. It happens so infrequently that they're always in catch-up mode when they do talk. It's always good for her to hear his voice and vice versa. They have a nice rapport and it's always a heartfelt and easy conversation. He spent a lot of time with his nana and da as a young boy so I guess you could say, without hesitation, that what goes around comes around.