Coffee heat rising

Spots of Light, Patches of Fog

Ugh! Just finished posting the daily multifarious ads for the multifarious bookoids on the multifarious Facebook sites and Twaddle, a time-consuming and tedious chore to beat all time-consuming and tedious chores.

Can’t complain too much, though: it’s only 8:37 a.m. Now the very worst chore of the day is off the desk. I can spend the rest of the next 16 hours or so loafing, playing with the dogs, sketching a new drawing, or maybe even writing a new Fire-Rider squib. So the sun burns through the fog, hm?

Here’s a little bright spot, surfacing in the side yard on a gray, thick, humid, HOT morning:

CactusFlower

Back in the fog: Ruby woke me up at 3:30 this morning with a threat to barf on the bed. Guess she was sickened by the antics at yesterday’s Republican convention. That was the only truly disgusting thing she got into yesterday.

At any rate, she escaped the bed before producing anything, and in fact recovered without woofing. Metaphorically, I mean.

Republicans. God. That’s not fog. That’s the Dark Night of the Soul. Check out this blood-curdling report from one of their elected delegates.

We’re all going to love it in British Columbia. Though I understand Newfoundland could use some new blood: maybe American refugees will be more welcome there.

Here’s what you need to take your mind off your own and America’s troubles: a nice, entertaining, escapist short story.

Seth

Scattered foggy patches: Have to pay the car registration. Thank you, God! No damned time-sucking emissions test this August. And it’s only $37 — in Arizona, car registration goes DOWN the older the car gets, the theory presumably being that they want drivers to keep their junkers as long as possible, and forgodSAKE don’t give them any ideas about replacing the clunk with safer, cleaner, more fuel-economical cars.

Arizona. The Land of the Bizarre.

Also have to fork over $340 to the Mayo, the amount Medicare and Medigap have paid toward the $650 bill sitting in accounts receivable. Presumably a check or two got lost in the mail. I’ll have to sift through three FAT folders of brain-boggling paperwork to see if I can find any lost checks

Fortunately, the community college district is sending (someday…let’s not hold our breath) around $565 to replace a lost check. That will cover the rest of the Mayo’s bill with a little left to spare. But what a fuckin’ nuisance.

The online bill-pay hoop-jumps and the search through file after file stuffed with incomprehensible paperwork will suck a massive amount of time out of this morning. Just the prospect is making me crabby as a cat.

It’s hot. It’s humid. The thermometer next to the chair where I tap away at this post reads 86 degrees. I need to clean the pool. Fog. Hot, clammy fog.

And finally, to end on a bright spot: Check out the great streaming channels emanating from Vermont Public Radio.

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “Spots of Light, Patches of Fog”

  1. I DO feel like I’ve been in the fog….or more like Rip Van Winkle….Sooo the one rental property that’s been giving us trouble continues to do so….This is the property that had a water holding tank go up … on a SATURDAY….Cost $1350. This morning the gal/tenant calls at 6:45AM….no hot water….I pack up the tools….grab a hot water heater and install the thing…..about $325 in materials and 2.5 hours later…soup to nuts….A guy at Home Depot shared he just had a water heater installed….$1375… So I saved $1K. Soooooo when I get home the “water tank guy” calls to give me a price/proposal for a well pump replacement as the existing pump at the subject property is 20 years old….$2816…..Forget college….send your kid to plumbing school. Gonna get more bids and if too high….looks like I’m in the “pump biz”…..This is just ridiculous…I feel like Rip Van Winkle!!!!

    • Y’know…seriously. I have been known to suggest to young people (to their horror) that they learn a trade like plumbing, carpentry, or electricity THAT CAN’T BE EFFING OFFSHORED. Okay, okay, it’s true, maybe someday a robot will repair your busted water pipes. But it’ll be awhile.

      Good god, that’s horrific. Which of your children do you plan to put up for collateral on the loans?

  2. The interior of British Columbia has pockets of isolated communities (Kimberley, New Denver) that became home to hundreds of draft dodgers in the 60s. I always thought it was funny to buy honey or fresh fruit from hippies at roadside stands in the Okanagan valley, and hear the broad flat accents of the Midwest coming back at me.

    Newfoundland is a blast to visit but it would be hard to move there, the economy is permanently depressed, and they have a huge provincial deficit (and monumental debt) due to brash spending during the short-lived oil boom there. So stay to where you’re at, bye! (Newfie vernacular).

    However, both are possibilities since Canada has a huge need of immigrants to balance low birthrate and an aging population. All you need to do is swear fealty to your liege and true lord and render tribute (gold and fair daughters) to your feudal baron.

    • Ha ha!!! The Canadians will love us. Trouble is, I’d just add to the old-age problem. And though I have a fine young son, I have no fair daughters. 😀

      Seriously, though: I love Canada and Canadians. If it weren’t so cold, I could imagine living there. Probably just drive the locals nuts, though…

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