“Time kept passing without my consent.”
Today has yet to make up its mind. When I woke up, it was sunny. Now it is cloudy. Earlier it was still. Now it is breezy. The only constant has been the temperature, 71°. I have no plans. I have no need to leave the house. I don’t even have to get dressed.
I heat coffee in the microwave. When the buzz goes off, I get the coffee. The cup’s handle is always facing away from the door. It is an odd phenomenon.
Henry barks if someone or something passes my house. He barks until they are out of sight. The amount of barking sometimes drives me crazy, but I hate to have him stop. My father always told me to let the dog bark. He is keeping me safe. When I was in the hospital, friends came to tend to the dogs and cat. Henry did not bark. I wasn’t home. I didn’t need protection.
Toast always falls on the buttered side. I learned why. As toast falls off the table, the toast rotates, but the spin rate is too slow to bring the buttered side up. I think I prefer it to be a mystery.
Cats throw up. Even though Jack gets hair ball treatment, he still throws up hair balls. He also sometimes tosses his dinner. Jack is an ace that leaving his rejections right where I walk in his room. At night, I have to get to the table to turn on the night. That is usually too late. I walk right in what Jack left. Sometimes I am barefoot. I won’t get into specifics. It has to do with my toes and is gross.
I learned to tie my shoes when I was five. My mother taught me. Because, at first, my bows were loose, I had to stop often to tie my shoes, but I got better at bows and didn’t have to stop. Kids today learn later. They have velcro. Kids today tell time digitally. Though they learn what the numbers mean, all the time telling is done for them. I was in the second grade when I learned to tell time, analog time. I still have only analog watches. Cursive writing is not taught anymore. Why bother? People don’t write letters. They e-mail letters. The only cursive anyone needs to know is how to write your name. I get that times change and the old ways disappear, replaced by newer, more efficient ways to do things, but though I can do the new ways, I still hang on to the old. After all, by the numbers, I am old. It is quarter past one.
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August 27, 2023 at 2:00 pm
We’ve had a really nice day but I can feel in the air that summer is over and autumn has taken over.
We saw a group of wild hogs this morning, from a long and safe distance 🙂 A sow and seven or eight piglets. They never walk alone so I wondered where the boar and rest of the group was.
August 27, 2023 at 2:13 pm
Christer,
I wish I could say the same thing about summer but there is still uncertainty. The last few days have had a fall-like feel being in the low 70’s and cooler at night, but that could change. This is, after all, August in New England.
You see far different animals than I do. Around here, I see deer the least. Turkeys are the most common. A rabbit eats my lawn and flowers. I see him in the morning. The once in a while animals are foxes, opossums and coyotes. I love opossums.
August 27, 2023 at 3:18 pm
Hi Kat,
Today is partly cloudy with a slight breeze for a change. The forecast high is only 98°. That sounds ridiculously hot, but compared to 110° for the past couple of days, any temperature under triple digits is a pleasure. The wind is out of the north due to a summer cold front. There’s no such thing as a cool front, but that’s what occurred.
We make coffee in a Kurig, I never gave any thought to which side buttered toast will hit the floor if dropped.
I never had or been around cats so I have no idea what they do with themselves. My spouse is deathly allergic to cats. Once while house hunting, we walked into an empty house and her cat allergies kicked in within a couple of minutes. We turned around and left without seeing more than the entrance.
All of us baby boomers had to learn to tell time on an analog clock because there was nothing else. Today we get adult students in the Cessna Citation airplane program who have to ask us what’s the meaning of the word, “Clockwise”. The Cessna Citation abnormal landing gear extension checklist says, “Pull alternate landing gear handle and turn clockwise to lock”.
The first digital watch I ever saw was in the early 1970s while working in a jewelry store. It was a Hamilton watch with a black screen that illuminated the time with large, red, digital LEDs when you pressed the button. I don’t remember the price, but it was not cheap. Today the least expensive watch uses LCDs, which are always on, and it’s made by Casio and cost less than ten dollars.
I have always been fascinated by time. All navigation is based on time. Having a good watch was always part of the equipment required to be a pilot. It drives my better half crazy that I look at my watch frequently for no apparent reason. My favorite watch is a Rolex GMT Master. It was designed by Rolex for the Pan Am pilots in 1958 when the first jet airplanes entered service. A new Rolex GMT Master in stainless steel, costs about $14,000 today if you can find one available. Obviously, I wear an Apple Watch. 🙂
August 27, 2023 at 5:41 pm
OMG, could it be, we just got our first sprinkle this month.
August 27, 2023 at 7:33 pm
I hope that is only the start of a stormy season!
August 27, 2023 at 7:44 pm
Hi Bob,
It is 7:30, and we are down to 67°. Today was mostly cloudy and didn’t get too warm. This is ideal weather and most of what we usually get in the fall. my favorite season on Cape Cod.
I brew a potful of coffee almost every day. What I don’t drink hot goes into the ridge for ice coffee. I notice the buttered side down as them I can’t eat the toast. I used to be allergic more to dogs than cats but the shots worked as they should, and I no longer have reactions.
I never thought about clockwise being purely analog. My cable box is digital but out the other clocks are analog. I love my watch with Roman numerals.
I don’t remember the first time I saw a digital watch. I do remember how much it lit up. My analog watch usually only has the tips of the hands and the numbers lit, not the face. I got a beautiful watch as a 50th birthday presents. It has a red leather strap and silver decorations. My mother gave it to me Right now, though, it needs a new battery.
I had to be aware of time when I taught so I could finish my teaching without leaving the lesson unfinished. It was the same in Ghana where I did wear a watch. Very few places there had clocks.
August 27, 2023 at 8:19 pm
If you have never been exposed to an analog clock, how would you no the difference between clockwise and counterclockwise?
August 27, 2023 at 8:25 pm
That’s true but it never crossed my mind.