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Idle essays

To Trick or Not to Treat?

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Comin’ on to 4:00 in the afternoon, a stormy evening is building up. Last night, a large part of the Valley lost power. Looks like we could be looking at a repeat performance.

Hmmmm….  I’d planned to join my neighbors across the street for this evening’s trick-or-treat antics. LOVE watching the kids in their costumes, and the whole Hallowe’en shenanigan.

But...hmmmm….. Maybe not.

In a truly major storm, Ruby the Corgi will be terrorized. That’s even if she’s safe in the house.

The neighborhood kids just ADORE her corgihood — seriously! So we’d planned to take her over to the WonderAccountants’ place when I go over to help hand out treats this evening. That is charmingly fun…

But… All it would take is one reasonably close-by lightning strike, accompanied by a blast of thunder, to scare the bedoodles out of this little dog. And that will cause her to take off, like a rocket, for points north of Las Vegas.

Darn!

That being a given, I’m having a raft of second thoughts about joining the neighbors for the trick-or-treat shenanigans.

Wunderground expects rain to start around 6:00 p.m.

Nice timing, eh? 😮

Apparently heavy rain is expected in lovely Phoenix tonight: one to two inches. Hey: that’s a lot, for Arizona! 😀

*******************

AND NOW….

It’s a true soggy-doggy night!

Rain has been pouring for the last hour or so. And I do mean pouring. 

This has put the eefus on the trick-or-treating, alas. The Wonder-Accountants and I did lurk in their garage for an hour or so, socializing and watching for customers. But hardly anyone came by, even before water started to leak out of the sky…  Now, though, buckets of water are coming down. And we have flooding every which way from Sunday.

So, we folded our camp and headed into our respective shacks.

Ruby and I are now officially loafing on the bed.

Too bad, really. I do love all the kids gussied up in their outfits and the teenagers running amok. Hallowe’en really is my favorite holiday.

Darn!

Hallowe’en Grinch

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Arghhh!  It’s supposed to rain tonight! 

So saith Wunderground.  And in Arizona, “rain” can mean “deluge.”

If that’s what we get, presumably it will chase off all our little demons and devils, out trick-or-treating. Darn it!

Heh….

On the other hand….I’ve failed to buy buckets of candy and treats. For some reason, just didn’t wanna!

Result: I’m totally unprepared for the usual hordes of costumed cuties.

But if it rains, that may be just as well. 😀

The plan is to go over to my neighbors’ place to watch the mêlée. We usually set up our chairs in the WonderAccountants’ driveway, there to hand out candy and watch little demons come and go. But…heh….  If it rains, we’ll be excused from that chore!

And indeed, it looks like it’s getting ready to rain, as we scribble. But indecisively: right now, I’d say it could rain sometime between now and midnight…but there’s a good chance it won’t.

Hafta say: this year I do find myself feeling weary of the buy-a-ton-of-candy-and-then-donate-half-of-it-to-the-church routine. I don’t eat that stuff, and so whatever I buy is effectively money down the drain.

Yet I do enjoy seeing the kiddies dressed up in their costumes, out carrying on. So I tend to think that’s what I’m paying for.

Speaking of diddling away money: I need to go out and buy another phone to replace the one that was stolen by some workman who wandered through here. Haven’t gotten around to that, because I have several extensions…meaning there’s no crying need to get another.

But can you imagine? Coming into someone’s home and stealing their phone!  WTF gets into people?

Well. The fact that I haven’t gotten around to buying a replacement does suggest I didn’t really need it. Right?

Still. It frosts what few cookies I have left. 

When We Say Rain….

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Gosh!!  What a freshet is carrying on out there!

Low, thick clouds. Thunder near and far. And water falling out of the sky…big-time!

Wunderground has emitted a “Severe Thunderstorm Warning” (eeek! Be scared, be very scared!). Meanwhile, the local newscasters are predicting relatively light rain (up to a quarter of an inch) tonight, but nearly an inch of rain tomorrow night.

Just this moment, water is pouring out of the sky. Similar conditions are predicted for tomorrow — one to two inches per hour. 

Alas, that may put the eefus on the Hallowe’en hijinks. I do love Hallowe’en: all the kids dressed up, the teenagers running amok, the parents trying to keep up. 😀

But if this keeps on or repeats itself tomorrow, we’ll have none o’ that.

Meanwhile, I haven’t bought candy for the trick-or-treaters. 

And just now I’m debating whether to do that tomorrow…or not. If it’s gonna be pouring rain tomorrow evening, I sure don’t want to go out and spend a lot of money on candy.

I don’t eat the stuff, myself. So If I have bags of it sitting by the front door, I’ll have to take it over to some charity and donate it. Not the end of the world, o’course. But…not something I’d choose to diddle away cash on.

Too bad, though, if tomorrow night’s frolicks are rained out.

Hallowe’en is my favorite holiday. I do love seeing the kids and the teenagers all gussied up in their costumes, frolicking around the neighborhood.

Welp…we shall see. Online forecasts seem to indicate reduced chances of rain tomorrow…maybe only 25%.

Sooo…hmmmm….  I guess tomorrow a.m. I should run over to the low-rent supermarket to the north, grab a few bags of candy, and then if any is left after the weekend, just donate it somewhere.

Another Muggy Day…

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…in (un)lovely North Phoenix…. 

Ugh! It’s hot and overcast and swampy. WhatEVER possessed my parents to move here from California, dragging me along with them?

Ohhh well. In fact, the sky is mostly very beautiful, with towering cumulus clouds gazing down at us. No doubt we’ll get some rain tonight.

Let’s see what the Official Sky-Watchers opine….

Hmmmm…. 24% chance of precip tonight, and then…HOLEE molee: 87% chance tomorrow, with thunderstorms.

😀

Well, that ought to be a show. 

Most of the time, these predictions amount to nothing, or next to it. Now and again, though…they do hit the mark. We shall see…

Took off into the weird gray yonder without company of Dog. Didn’t want to have to wrangle her through rain, if any occurred. Plus it really is pretty hot for her…if you were wearing a two-inch-thick fur coat, you probably wouldn’t enthuse much about traipsing over hot concrete and asphalt in 83-degree heat.

Actually, that’s downright chilly for lovely uptown Phoenix.

Tomorrow, we get a bit more drama, or so the Weather Service opines: 90% chance of precipitation, thunderstorms, high of 69 degrees, locally heavy rainfall possible.

Kinda like to wash my hair…but figure with the air this soggy, shoulder-length locks may not dry before bedtime.

Yeah….I should get the hair mat cut short. But a) I like it long, old age or no old age; and b) I just don’t feel like dorking around with a beauty parlor.

Oh, my goodness! Patrick Stewart died! Captain Kirk!  How is that even possible? My, he was a delight…he made all his roles delightful.

Much to be missed…

Another Beautiful Day in Arizona…

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As a long-ago radio announcer — still fondly remembered — used to intone each morning: “It’s another beautiful day in Arizona…leave us all enjoy it!”

😀  Nothing like a little illiteracy to give your talk show some zing, eh?

Seriously, it was a much-loved maxim that he invented and used for years.

Ruby and the Human have marched around the ‘Hood, at least to some degree. The Human is feeling sick, and so not at all in the mood to gallop from pillar to post.

Back in the house, fed,  and ensconced on the bed, I hope to sleep off whatever this is.

Missing a dear friend from long ago. She and her husband lived in a later-built tract to the north of the Central Avenue area. Ticky-tacky little house, cheaply built in the mode of later architecture. He fell ill — very ill, indeed — and died after a long haul in that house. She moved to Scottsdale briefly; then decamped to the Midwest, whence she came and where her family was still living. Forthwith, we lost track of each other.

I seem to have  lost track of most of my friends.

Maybe I should try to get another adjunct position at the Great Desert University. That, at least, would give me something to do and bring me into contact with new people,

But…without a car — my son purloined mine and sold it — there’s no way I can get out to the campus. I’m trapped here in the Funny Farm, really.

I probably could get down to the church. It would require a hike through the North Central district and then a bus ride — often an annoying experience in these parts, what with the stoners and the panhandlers. More hassle than I’m up for.

And so…what will I do? Sit here and rot away?

Very possibly, as we don’t appear to have many alternatives. Make that “any” alternatives.

  • No job.
  • No freelance opportunities.
  • No volunteer gigs.
  • No friends left.
  • No car in which to venture forth…

Really, when you come down to it, I’m doomed. It really IS time to go, isn’t it?

Yeah. “Sit here and rot away” about defines my future. Hope it comes quickly….

NOW what???

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Is there, seriously, NEVER a dull moment?

Why th’hell not???

Six p.m., Friday evening, October 23. Now I find a weird, itchy rash all over my chest.

WTF???  Chicken pox???

Believe I had chicken pox as a kid. Can you get it again as an old bat?

Hmmmm….  Saith the Mayo Clinic:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chickenpox/symptoms-causes/syc-20351282

Doesn’t look strikingly like that.

Temperature: a little over 100 degrees. That’s high for me: I’m a cold potato. Normal for me is 97. Mayo clinic regards 97 to 99 degrees as “normal.”

Feeling ever so slightly on the awful side. Believe I’ll shut off the lights and try to get some sleep!