“Learn to ride a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live.”
The air conditioner is still blasting. I am still hearing voices. It is still hot.
The temperature is 82˚. The high will be 86˚. My to do list is short: go to the dump. Sound familiar? Going to the dump has taken over the top spot as most disliked chore. The laundry has slipped to number two. Going to the dump means hauling or dragging to the car and trunk the heavy trash bags, the recycle bags, the empty boxes and whatever else is hanging around waiting to be tossed, like the barbecue cover destroyed by spawns. This morning I brought out a couple of trash bags when I picked up the papers. I’ll go to the dump this afternoon. I’ve backed myself into the corner. I have no choice now. There’s a trash bag already in the trunk.
I was on the deck late yesterday afternoon. The air was still and humid. I sat for a bit to take in the day then I watered all the deck and strawberry plants. Henry was out with me. He kept running into the yard then back up to the deck and then back again. When he started panting, we went inside. It was cold.
When I was a kid, I never watched the news on TV. I don’t even think my parents did. We got the newspaper every day, but the only part of the paper I read was the funnies. My town was my entire world. I knew every part of it. I had ridden my bike all over town for years. I knew all the best spots. I never got tired or bored. I always brought my lunch. My favorite sort of picnic stop was on a bench under the trees by the town hall.
People are renting next door. Henry barks when they go out and he barks when they come back. This will be a long week.
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July 21, 2020 at 3:14 pm
Hi Kat,
Up until about ten years ago I received the newspaper daily. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to read it as much as I would have liked and I didn’t think filling up the landfill with unread newsprint was a good idea. Now we get all our news via TV or the internet. Until the Covid-19 I was a news junkie but I have tired of thee pandemic being the number one story behind the latest shootings.
Back in the day, Walter Cronkite was the most trusted man in America. He came into people’s homes, on TV, with the news at the dinner hour five nights a week. He and the local newspaper were the news. Today, you can get TV and internet news 24/7 in whatever political flavor you enjoy. This plethora of news has overloaded and splintered us into basically two tribes. The Trump tribe and the Democrats. Sadly, the two tribes can’t find a middle ground to compromise on anything and they campaign continuously in a war room environment. Since Trump has taken over the Republican Party there are only a few real Republicans left. 😦
We’ve gotten a break in the temperature because it’s only 90°, but the humidity is high. Have fun at the Dump. 🙂
July 21, 2020 at 7:54 pm
Hi Bob,
I’d really miss the paper. I love my leisurely mornings with my papers and coffee. When I was in Ghana visiting, I checked the news on my iPad the first few days, but after that, I stopped reading. I didn’t enjoy reading the iPad. I do check local news on TV usually at 6 or 11.
Trump’s new Republican Party is afraid to cross him. Anything he says or does is law. It is tragic.
Hot today and still hot tonight.
July 21, 2020 at 6:49 pm
Hi Kat,
There have been lots (comparatively) of people and dogs walking by my house these last few months. Mostly because pandemic has left people with not much to do but it’s primarily because the resident priest has decided that no people or dogs can walk through the church parking lot anymore as has been the custom for the last 6 decades.So all the folks and dogs are strolling by my house which sets off Rocky and Piki Dog. They have perfected their howling/barking song and have to show it off for all. The other day my neighbor two houses down asked which one does the actual wolf howl. That would be Rocky. I refuse to be embarrassed.
It’s hot here again but a couple of degrees cooler than yesterday. Whoo. Hoo.
My big accomplishment for the day was to make potato salad and do the dishes. Ta-Daaah! 🙂
Enjoy the evening.
July 21, 2020 at 8:05 pm
Hi Caryn,
Luckily the houses closest to me or are empty or have residents who work all day. Henry bays. He is howls. Henry is a loud dog.
Does the priest sit at his window to catch people? It seems like a silly rule unless it came about because of people not cleaning up after their dogs. Maybe over time Piki Dog and Rocky will stop caring. I expect when Henry is old and doddering he’ll stop caring.
I ended up doing nothing today except watering outside again. It is even now still hot out. My Ac is doing its job.
July 22, 2020 at 8:42 am
Since the church was established the parking lot has been used as a safe place to walk (with or without dogs) and teach kids how to ride 2 wheel bikes without the training wheels and how to steer a car and park it between two lines. In fact, when the church was new, the dogs walked through there on their own because nobody walked dogs back then. They opened the door and let them run, right along with the kids. Be home when the street lights come on. I know this because I was one of those kids who played over there a lot. Now he has put up all kinds of signs. No skateboarding. No roller skating. No dogs allowed. He has the police “taking notice” several times a week.
The priests have always been welcoming until this one. His approach to people is aggressive and threatening. I am not the first person that he has unloaded on for various things nor am I the first person to have written to the diocese about him. He is not a good neighbor and, because he is not, the church is no longer viewed as one either which is too bad.
July 22, 2020 at 6:08 pm
Hi Caryn,
It is too bad he has come to represent the church. I’m thinking that another priest might see the parking lot as an opportunity to interact with his parishioners and his neighbors. I also learned to park between the lines in the school yard. One entrance to my school yard was an incline, almost a ramp. I loved going down the side of it into the parking lot on my bike. It was a great ride.
Maybe this priest will move on. Prayer wouldn’t hurt (joke!!).