Que Sera'Sera'

The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery.


Dave Barry

"Ciao Mom-bo?", comments Duane.  "Sounds about right for Mother's Day!"

Little Red Caboose

IMPATIENCE


A marriage contract to me is as binding as any in business, and I have always believed in sticking to an agreement.


Paul Getty

Damp nearly to my armpits, I am momentarily struggling to remember why I wanted this puppy, or actually any puppy.  I am seriously scratching my head here. Taking him with me seemed like a good idea an hour ago. Cuddling with him before bedtime, I will remember again, but for the moment, it has escaped me.

Shep knew that with cattle guards you just have to pace and whine until you figure out a way around them.  Thinking Bjarne would do the same, I let go of his leash to watch.  He tackled it head on, slipped between the metal bars and scrambled up, lunged for the next bar, made it, missed the next one, hung on with both paws, and finally sprawled, in an inglorious belly flop, safe at last on solid ground reminding me of a lumpy cake that collapsed when you took it out of the pan. We met another puppy, a Great Dane lab mix, and playtime ensued.  Bjarne learned the dangers quickly of powerful pats with danish sized puppy paws, and found safety behind my legs as needed. Cute little puppy play-bows, hops and yips, and river dips, I'm hoping will dispel the middle of the night crying that woke me last night.  Gingerly picking up the muddy leash with my fingers, I dragged him, unwilling to leave his new friend, back to the car, to the once clean seat now scattered with light dog hairs that I hopelessly try to pick off my black upholstery.  Oh yeah, that's what pickups are for.   Spreading the handy, pet hair infused rug over the seat to protect it from muddy paw prints, I promised myself to vacuum very soon.  Now is as good a time as any to find out that he does know the meaning of "STAY!" if you say it with a frown and a no-nonsense voice, OR ELSE.

That No-scratching-at-the-front-door rule is only partially successful.  It was going well yesterday, but today we are starting from "scratch", literally.  And now, able to dodge all but one muddy footprint  aimed at my clean knit top, visions of sugar plums are dancing through my head, as I wrestle to keep him in the tub while he persists in attempting his escape.  Rather, since sugar plums are out of season, visions of another kind of plumb.  How nice it would be to have a laundry sink/dog washing sink, perhaps in the garage.

Smelling of a familiar pungent mixture of citrus shampoo/wet puppy, he curls damply up in the indentation between me and the couch, resting his soft black head and front paws on my soaked- to- the-skin pink tee-shirt.  I look sadly at my wet, clammy jeans, with all the evidence of puppy shedding, remembering past days of clean tubs, clean cars, and clean dry clothes, while he looks back at me with soft, dark eyes, gives a little sigh, and falls asleep.  I guess that was the reason I thought I was ready for a puppy.   But I'm serious about the wash sink.

That's the nice thing about being married to a do-it-yourself-er.  My husband can do anything, except delegate. He never stops working, you could say, day in and day out.  Work solves every problem for him. Need money?  Work more.  No vacations for this man. Two "real" vacations in 32 years and it was enough for both of us and trust me, you don't need the miserable details. If he takes a few hours off it just gives him time to think up more ways to work, so I have learned to let him work!

I don't remember signing up to work as hard as he does.  Was that included under the heading "for better or for worse?"  (What is the deal that people started writing their own vows, anyway?  Do they get to skip that phrase?)    Having a resident plumber naturally causes a wide variety of water feature improvements to pop into my head.  I've been treated to some of the best faucets made, and a custom made shower with six shower heads that spray at the same time.  I've tried out sinks in my own kitchen, made from cutting edge materials so he could give his customers a true recommendation, both with the faucet of my choice, and the most basic version he had in inventory on Sunday morning for a quick replacement.  I have the latest in radiant heat installed in my floor, because the resident plumber thinks he should have a top of the line heat system, the latest in water heaters, and the most energy efficient boiler.

His abilities extend beyond plumbing.  When he wanted to learn to install carpet I resisted strongly.  NOT another thing to do-it-ourselves.  It was no use.  We had to wait two weeks for someone to lay carpet one time.  That was all it took.  Next thing I knew, he had ordered the tools, bought an instruction book and now "we" install our own new flooring in rentals, carpet or otherwise, and when our carpet gets flooded, he pulls it up, drys it out and re-stretches it. From the standpoint of handy, it doesn't get better than that!  Amazed at the level of work this man can cheerfully tackle, I can only marvel.

Dubiously eyeing the load on our flat bed truck after the last trip to Home Depot as he snugged up the new tie-downs, I resisted the mounting doubt building in my over worked brain, exercised my optimism, and reminded myself that there is no lack of perseverance on his part, so I'm sure he can get it all done. (Oh, dear. I'm supposed to help?) This includes installing new vinyl in two apartments, installing a set of closet doors and a new lavatory vanity combination.    So...it's not looking like I will get a deck or a dog washing sink anytime soon.  Never mind.  A couple of hours sitting by the pool in Arizona and I'll be all to ready to get back to work in the air-conditioning!

Some ladies would just do it themselves.  Mindy is one of those!  I don't think there's much she isn't willing to try at least once!  I helped her lay carpet in one of her apartments.  That is no small job, tugging heavy carpet into place, handling the hot carpet-seamer, without burning yourself or the carpet, oh, so carefully, and bush-whacking the kicker with your knee.  My knee didn't like that job very much, and the short power stroke behind my feeble whacks made it seem like an exercise in futility, anyway.  Mindy proved that it's persistence that counts, not power. So much for that excuse.

Because Jerry was so busy as usual, one day I decided to try to fix something before he got home, thinking I could surprise him with my resourcefulness.  We had built a little water-fountain stream  running outside our living room windows, and it had a little submersible water pump that quit working.  I didn't know the first thing about fixing water pumps, but I thought I could learn as I went along.  This wasn't my first brainstorm.  However, I don't think he will ever let me live down the day I decided it was time to start remodeling the bathroom while he was at work.  Walking through the door after work, with a friend in tow,  I thought he was going to fall into apoplexy when he saw me standing on top of a four foot heap of ceiling plaster, sheet-rock, wood trim and what have you, hammer in hand.  It's not like we hadn't discussed the project.  Was it my fault he hadn't specified a date to start?

Since then I have found interesting little renovations my kids have done, and I'd had some practice biting my tongue.  I knew that an 8 year old could create a flat bed truck from a nice Fisher-Price dump truck. It appeared that all you had to do was take a hammer and whack off the sides of the dump box.  Judging from the patient but puzzled look on my eight year old's face, the fact that the edges were jagged was not significant to the more important fact of the desired result, a flat bed truck.  As if to say, how could Mom find this so difficult to understand. I also knew that if you were curious to know how a watch worked, a clock, or a tape recorder, you took it apart to see what was going on inside.   Sighing at little piles of destruction around me, I began to slowly comprehend the learning process.   You didn't necessarily have to get around to putting it back together as long as you had learned what you needed to know.

Being older than 8, I thought I should be able to handle this little repair.  It was obvious that the first thing I needed to do was to remove the bottom cover with a Phillips head screw driver. I assembled a few simple tools and got to work.  As soon as I removed the screws, oil started pouring out.  Suddenly I needed a large receptacle, which I had not realized I would need. I knew right away that something was suspiciously wrong about such an unexpected loss of fluid so I immediately changed my plan, and decided to wait, very anxiously, for expert help.

Help arrived in the form of a husband who wondered, not for the first time, how a farmer's daughter could be so clueless that she didn't realize that opening an oil-cooled pump signified the end of the pump's useful life.

I have noticed this, that if I want anything done, all I have to do is start it.  He takes one look at my incompetency and pitches right in.  Works like a charm every time.   I guess I need to install that new ceiling fan, get some stakes to start plotting my deck's dimensions, and yes, make a final decision on the lavatory sink for the basement bathroom.  Oh, and build the landing just outside the kitchen door in the garage.  Except he's on to my schemes, now.  One mention of a project I have in mind, and he's quick to inform me that he plans on moving another shipping container into the shop to paint, install new windows in a rental, start up the air conditioning unit for our renters, and fix the waterline that froze over the winter. It's so difficult to argue with productivity.  I guess that means we're even in the "no new ideas, please" department.  The ceiling fan was his idea, though.  So maybe I should bring the box in from the garage, at least.   Put together the pieces.  Definitely make the final decision about where it's going to hang.  Yes, that sounds like a good plan.

There's no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn't tell you about it?

Kin Hubbard

Would you like a new day with that?

a spot of tea

Come and sit a spell.

Phoenix, Ciao for now.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. 

Action breeds confidence and courage.

If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. 

Go out and get busy.

Dale Carnegie

Northern Pacific Train Depot

Never make a promise - you may have to keep it.

Neil Jordan

Honk, honk.  Looking for a lost mate.

Suite-a-tete.

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you can't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.

Denis Waitley