This and that

Yesterday Cliff started his new schedule, working four ten-hour days per week. If you count his commute time and add in the half-hour for lunch, he's actually gone twelve hours. I woke up briefly when he was crawling into bed at 3:45 A.M. Here's hoping he's able to sleep at least until 10 o'clock this morning.

I know it seems like a terrible schedule, but here's the thing: If it doesn't work out for Cliff and Tony (the guy he rides to work with) they can go right back to the old schedule. Cliff feels it's worth giving up a couple of hours at home per day in order to get a whole extra day off each week. The hours, though, are pretty atrocious. So we shall see. When I got up this morning I woke Sadie up and carried her bed into the living room, shutting the bedroom door behind me.

Sadie has all sorts of insecurities that make me laugh: One that really puzzles me is her irrational fear of the furnace. Because of this, I can't put her bed near a furnace grate: the minute the furnace lights (and it lights so quietly, I don't hear it... but she does), she's out of there; let's not even talk about when the fan starts blowing warm air! One would assume she'd get used to it, but she hasn't. Strange thing is, the air conditioner blowing through the same grates doesn't bother her at all. Go figure.

Surfing across the Internet, I read that coyotes are killing dogs just across the Missouri/Kansas line. Now that's scary! I used to see coyotes and hear them howling out here all the time. These days, not so much. I guess they moved to Johnson County, Kansas. I once wrote a poem about a coyote:

THE COYOTE
Donna Wood

In the pasture, on a hill,
A coyote stands, alert and still.
He fixes me with stony stare,
As if I shouldn't trespass there.
I've heard him howl, with all his clan,
While darkness creeps across the land.
My house is not that far away,
And yet, the coyote families play.
(Civilized, we well may be,
But coyotes roam here, wild and free;
And when a train goes whistling by
I hear their eerie victory cry.)
He looks awhile; then trots away:
While I stand watching, he won't stay.
But in the twilight he'll be here ---
For I've had poultry disappear

As I sat typing this post, I happened to remember the cordless phone in the bedroom and retrieved it. That's something else I'll have to learn to do on a daily basis, with a day sleeper around. Or maybe there's a way to turn off the ringer?

I guess that's all the random stuff I have this morning. Have a great day!

Are you ready for Black Friday?

I found a website with all the major Black Friday ads HERE.

Being a non-driver and having a husband who hates to shop, I've done the black Friday thing only once in my life, with my daughter and a couple of her friends. I've never been one to go all-out buying Christmas gifts, and these days I just don't do any gift-buying at all; call me Scrooge. I do think that if I drove, I'd get out early and watch the excitement, though. I'm sure a couple of hours would do me in; then I'd be begging for the comforts of home.

Which reminds me: Yesterday Cliff and I took his motorcycle to Tipton, Missouri, to have some maintenance work done; fluids changed, brakes, checked... that sort of thing. The cost for this at Ghetto Cycle Center is much less than at Hub, which is where we've always gone before. And with gasoline prices at $1.49 per gallon (and less), we didn't mind the little drive. We even spent a couple of hours visiting with Cliff's aunt, who lives in the area.

Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, shopping: we stopped in Warrensburg so Cliff could buy the oil for our Gold Wing. The Walmart Supercenter we entered was bustling with shoppers, all of whom seemed happy and polite. The management must pipe some sort of happy gas into the store, because I'm used to Walmart shoppers practically running me down with their shopping carts; and if they make eye contact at all, it's usually to glare at me. Most shoppers seem angry at the world. It was like this even before our economy shot craps!

Of course, I have to pause here and admit that when I see a reflection of my own face while shopping, I don't exactly look the picture of peace and good will. So maybe I'm just getting back the same vibes I'm sending out.

And that's my totally random entry for this morning. As I read back over my words, I can see this whole post goes nowhere and says very little. If you made it all the way to the end, aren't you sorry you wasted your time? (Don't answer that.)

That's a partial arrowhead and a couple of pieces of flint I found when Cliff and I were walking in the pasture the other day.

Sadie and I walked today after Cliff went to work; he had his every-three-month doctor visit this morning so the doctor could ask him how he's feeling, and to get his blood work done. Once you've had CABG surgery and go on all those prescription drugs, you get to see a doctor regularly.

A couple of weeks ago, I vowed to patronize the small-town grocery stores around here. Last week I spent only $68, and today I spent $63. Trouble is, today's money was spent at Walmart.

I know, I wasn't going to do that. But the grocer in the town where our doctors' office is had to close down due to competition from Walmart. I don't drive. It was either patronize Walmart or make a special trip someplace else, and I hate to make Cliff drive extra miles in his free time. So on the second week of my "patronize local grocers" vow, I folded. Hopefully next week I'll get back on track.

I've found I watch my grocery dollars more closely if I take a certain amount of cash, rather than using the checkbook. So that's another practice I'm implementing.

We are not in dire straits; but we're in our sixties, so I know the time is coming when we won't have Cliff's steady, quite generous paycheck to count on. I may as well get used to budgeting now.

On this gloomy, gray afternoon there's a cold front coming through, possibly bringing rain. Sunday may bring sunshine and sixty degree temperatures, say the weather-guessers. If it does, we'll get on the Gold Wing and head out on the open road for a few hours... if the good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise.