Keep the Coffee Comimg

The early morning was chilly, a left over temperature from last night’s 36°. It is now 52°, the high for today. Tonight will get cold again, back down to 36 °. That has become the pattern, a warmish day and a chilly night.

It is a pretty morning. The sun is brightly shining framed by a blue sky. Leaves are dropping in the breeze, some still have color. The dogs wander the backyard. Nala is looking for branches. She brought in a long one yesterday. She had to turn her body to get it through the dog door. The other day she brought in a shorter branch covered in brown, dead leaves. She carried it to the couch, got comfortable and then chewed off the leaves. I was her lackey and cleaned up after her.

When the penny disappears, a part of my childhood will disappear with it. When I was a kid, the penny had value. All the corner stores had penny candy in display cases, rows of choices. The ladies in the white store were patient. They let us take our time deciding how to spend our pennies. Sometimes I wanted chewy candy which lasted a long time, candy like Banana Splits, a yellow hard candy, Mary Janes, a peanut butter molasses candy, Tootsie Rolls, Fire Balls and green Mint Julep candy. Fire Balls were a bit of a challenge. We’d sometimes have a contest to see who could suck on the hot candy the longest. As for soft penny candy, I loved Bull’s Eyes. They are a round caramel candy with a white creamy center. I’d save the center for last. Pink and white coconut candy was also a favorite. The weirdest penny candy was a sheet of candy buttons. You had to chew off the colored buttons, and each button always came with a bit of the paper. More weird candies included red wax lips and black wax mustaches. You just chewed those like gum. Wax bottles had colored liquid inside which squirted in your mouth when you chewed it. Every color liquid tasted the same. Nickel candy comes next but that is for another post.

I remember one corner store had a freezer in the back which held frozen Milky Ways, Snickers and Charleston Chews. The nuts in the Snickers made it the hardest to eat. The Charleston Chew was the easiest as I’d smash the bar on the table to break it into smaller pieces. I still freeze Snickers and Milky Ways.

Compared to last week, this will be a busy week. My dance card has four uke events starting tonight. Our music for the month is cowboy songs. Git along, little dogies.

We have another lovely day. It is sunny and 63°. The air is quite still. Nothing disturbs the quiet. Many of the oak leaves have died on the branches. The yard has a layer of fallen leaves, most of them red-yellow. I can hear the crunch from those dead leaves when the dogs run the yard.

Henry continues to drive me crazy about the dog door. Yesterday he came in the door twice so he could bark from the front door at some hapless people walking their dog on the street. Later, though, he refused to come in and stood outside banging the door and crying. I can take it only so long, but there is more. His head and one front paw were inside the kitchen through the door. He was looking for me, and, as soon as he saw me, he pulled his head and paw outside so I could open the door for him. Expletives deleted.

I go to bed in the wee hours. At that time, the only light shining other than mine is my neighbor’s outside door light. It is always lit, even in the daytime. Last night, at close to nine, I stood at the back door waiting for the dogs. All of the houses were dark except my neighbors’ outside light was lit, but their house had no other lights. Are all my neighbors in bed that early? Are they all out somewhere? Is this a re-creation of the Twilight Zone episode The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street? I was flummoxed.

When I was a kid, I was seldom scared. I remember I was at my friend’s house one night when we heard noises in the bushes. I gave a quick thought to the man with the hook, which caused a little unease, but I decided to be brazen. I yelled and demanded the intruder come out or I would call the police. The intruder did. It was another friend trying to scare us. Another time my parents had gone grocery shopping leaving my brother and me home. I heard rustling in the bushes and ran under the bed. The door knob rattled. I pretended bravery and yelled from under the bed, about the worst hiding place. It was my father who answered my yelling. He was just scaring me, not funny I told him, still feigning bravery.

I did get to the dump yesterday which gave me a sense of accomplishment. I also stopped to buy bread and cat food. That was the most outside I’d had in close to a week.

My dance card has nothing today, but I do have my usual uke events starting tomorrow so I am back in the swing. My sloth is muttering.