Texting Schmexting.

Smart gadget.

Sheba, my undisclosed spouse, is now absorbed into hand held devices. The very same devices she once railed against when daughters and later grandkids were buried face down over while sitting at our dining table. Daughters and their kids fiddled, tapped, and swiped on while hunched over picking at grandma’s quickly cooling Sunday meals she slaved over. Much to Sheba’s seething and dismay.
But now! Gram is totally engrossed in her own wretched device. What use to be a nice morning chat at our breakfast is now shrouded in a cloud of silence. But with the exception of rapid tat tap typing and ending with a whoosh sound at the end. But before I can inject a half sentence, here comes a loud PING. Ping representing incoming messages. Often it’s ping ping and ping in rapid succession. And guess who Sheba is whooshing and pinging? Her very own kids and grandkids.
So, I just have to eat my medium poached eggs in silence. Anybody looking for a talking breakfast partner? Glad to talk about books I’ve read or how my sour dough starter is developing. Whoosh!

Going out of town?

The Red Planet.
The space junkies are planning a trip to Mars. A trip to Mars with people aboard a space craft. It is proposed to send about a hundred men and women to the Red Planet. I couldn’t think of a worse trip to make. It is estimated to take about six months to get there with the possibility of never coming back. But anyway could you imagine sitting in row 16 stuck in the middle seat for six months? You know for certain disagreement will break out if not punches thrown in to some passengers face. And you also know the food will just be airline quality. Which is next to awful. Then who is going to take care of the lavatories? The big question is what to do with all that woosh and wee wee. Send it into orbit around Mars maybe? And it will be for certain an OB-GYN will be needed about Mars landing time. If you know what I mean.
Then upon arrival, where will a smart young astronaut get his or her Blond Latte? And as far as I know there are no Super Cuts or Volvo dealers on Mars. And most importantly there will be no cable connection or Wi-Fi. How does one ‘Game’ without a Wi-Fi connection. All of this is good reason to just stay home and adopt a rescue cat. It’s the humane thing to do.

I like audio books.

Book Report.
She was born to a Native American woman. A woman married to a white man. The new born girl’s father was a very successful surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. They named her Apple and just minutes after birth the mother dies due to coplications from a recent accident. It wasn’t until Apple’s 15th summer did her father speak of Apple’s birth mother and Apple’s grandparents.
The title of the book is “Apple in the Middle.” By Dawn Quigly 2018. Mostly fiction and some autobiographical experiences.
After Apple’s sophomore year in high school her father and stepmother wants her to drive up with them to North Dakota to meet her birth mother’s parents and for Apple to spend the summer there. None the less Apple being well entrenched in modern school culture was broadsided with such a far fetch idea. So, self-talk with self deprecating humor and lots of anxiety lead her to meeting her mother’s parents. A teen girl in search of her own true identity.
Book is written for junior and senior high kids. However there is lots of wisdom and teachable moments in the narrative. I liked it. The audio book version is read quite well by the female voice actor.

Don’t do my thinking.

Yes, I’m white, male, old, and NOT Republican. Far from it. But not Democrat either. I am not a party joiner of any ridgid political dogma. There are talking points in both parties I disagree with. But I’m not going to debate those at this time. But my point is this, don’t expect me to mindlessly parot yours or anybody’s partisan philosophy. To me this would be against the principles of democracy. Taking away anyone’s right to choose for him or herself. So don’t expect me to always agree with you, your friends, nor any like-minded group insisting on lock-step compliance. That’s not for me. That’s howmerauding gangs get started and force division. Therefore I am a political loner. So, back off.

I really don’t need much.

Real Estate sales guy and son-in-law Chris obtained online market value of property at 1600 Penn Av in DC. Valued well over 400 M. But not for sale at this time. Current occupant has a four year lease on this white wash dwelling. However, I would just like to have unrestricted access to the WH kitchen, cooking staff, pantry, walk-in freezer, and any food items consumable. Their pastry chef could provide valuable service. So forget the china or silverware. Just place prepared cooked and baked items on a paper plate and I will take it to the back and share it with the WH dogs. And I would like access to this at least five-days a week…for the rest of my like. 😋👍🏻

But what about eating at our favs.

Post card from the Land of Enchantment.
Sheba , my nameless and facebookless wife, and I started off our visit to Santa Fe with a wonderful southwest meal at Harry’s Roadhouse. An eatery Sheba and I have visited more than once. A big thumbs up for Harry’s. By the way traveling here we encountered a brief snow flury but not much weather anywhere else. Just lots of wind.
Plenty of hugs upon arrival at the grandkids house.Plus lots of tickling, pinching, and more hugs. Grandparents survive on such things. However we were issued by the grandkid’s live-in care takers a long list of times and places to chauffeur the kids to and from. So our eating aspirations might be limited. This is to allow care takers to do their at home and at work duties. Some by Zoom and some at their work places. None the less Sheba and I will be lucky to make it to Taco Bell with such a grandkid delivery load. Stay tuned.

The Royals.

First of all and foremost Prince Charles is a skunk’s anus. Second, Princess Diana was a wonderful human being and I was in love with her. Her untimely demise absolutely crushed me. But this was twenty years ago and don’t tell Sheba my backstage wife about this secret admiration. Number three, the Queen is a twit and is only there to pronounce Knighthood upon celebrity nare-do-wells. All in all and number four Charlie married the lovely young Princess Diana for breeding purposes only. Charlie needed at least one male heir apparent. None the less, Prince Chuck never gave up his first homely looking crush whose name I forgot (and for good reason). But anyway you can see why Harry and Meghan left Sleeping Beauty’s castle. Too much high brow hoity-toity and folderol. By the way the lovely third tear royal couple received a King’s ransom from the Oprah interview. Enough to pay the rent and buy extra cans of Spam. I just hope Harry finds meaningful work in Santa Barbara.

Where the action was.

Miller’s market.
Miller’s market was on Olympic Boulevard in East L A and the half way point between my home and our elementary school. It was run by Joe Miller and just a Pa store. No ma. He had a small butcher counter, a reasonable produce section, a fair amount of packaged and canned goods, and the essentials up front at the cash register. Comic books, candy bars, bubble gum, and our wax lips and mustaches. But I must say he knew us kids. Mr. Miller was a genius at marketing his little store. He was my friend Donnie and my self’s resource guy and banker. Donnie and I collected soda bottles which were redeemable for cash. Cash that was immediately traded back for comic books and candy. We were okay with this. Any loose leftover pocket change could easily be spent elsewhere on frivolous items.
One of Mr. Miller’s marketing ideas was to have a drawing for a brand new 3-speed racer bike and was displayed up on a high shelf behind the checkout counter. A super bike coveted by any boy-child back in the 1950s. We all signed and put a ticket in the drawing bin and waited several months for the drawing. Winner must be present to win. Then came the evening of the drawing. So to our surprise a short dorky curly hair kid who no one really liked had won the bike drawing. I guess I didn’t wish hard enough.
Then there was a time Oscar Meyer who was really a midget actor in his white chef hat and coat drove up in his Wienermobile out front of Mr. Miller’s store. We kids were so excited. After steping out the side door of the Wienermobile the Oscar Meyer actor gave us kids wiener whistles. Wow! Tweet tweet! But anyway the incentive for Oscar, the actor, to show up with his rolling wiener was a full box of White Owl cigars presented by Mr. Miller. What a guy! Mr. Miller really knew his business and how to draw a crowd
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Where do we put the pork and beans

Downsizement

We live in one of the four Cohousing cottages here at Oakcreek Cohousing Community. All homes side-by-side in a neat little row. They range from about 1k square feet to about 1500 square feet. Each with a front patio with its own design and painted color. Across the middle walk way is four more of the same facing our row of houses. So these eight cottages are designated as ‘Pod-3.’ There are two more pods. Pods one and two. Makes sense huh?
So all pods are set on seven-acres of grass, a larger Common House, garages and car ports, several outbuildings, wooded areas, and a creek running through it.
Now inside sits a puzzlement. We have a refrigerator, a dishwasher, and a washer/dryer combo. All about one third smaller than a typical home large appliance. Thus downsized. So here is where confusion comes in. We still buy and prepare full-size meals. Meals enough for our two daughter’s and their families. But they live far away. But anyway our fridge and pantry is crammed with full-size food goods. Sometimes hard to open or close the little slide-out pantry. Thus we still eat full size meals and wash full size amounts of dish washings. So what have we not learned here? How do we learn how to downsize? What are we doing wrong? Would the local University have beginner courses in downsizing? Maybe we could send a letter to Dear Abby for advisement.