Tell a Story

It's gone...again. I started putting journals on a couple of trails that I use on a daily basis when I walk with my dogs. I ask people who see them to write a story, something that they are thinking about as the use the path in the woods.
I started by putting a notebook with a pen in a plastic bag at the beginning of the trail at Rome Point. Well that didn't last long because like the pamphlets and fliers hanging there for doggy day care and pet grooming services it was gone in a couple of days. I guess the DEM ( Department of Environmental Management) frowns on creative expression on state property which makes sense or we would have every Picasso and Hemingway wanna be "expressing themselves" all over the beaches and trails of Rhode Island. Well I moved the journal to a more secluded location deeper in the woods. It worked.  People began leaving stories. Stories about their first dates. Kids would describe seeing the seals and draw pictures and teens would tell stories about how stoned they were went they found this notebook in the woods. The winter came and the bag and its contents where getting a bit worn so I bought a plastic container and changed the pen to a pencil so it wouldn't freeze.
 
I began looking forward to each days walk just so that I could read what some stranger had written. Then it happened. It was gone. Maybe it fell between the rocks or it was covered by leaves down the path. Nope. It was gone. Somebody had taken it. DEM again? Was it some disgruntled hiker who thought that this had turned his pristine woods into some sort of forest chat room with graffiti scribbled on a pad?  The woods where for walking not writing. 

Well I replaced it with a new pencil, journal and a plastic container that could with stand anything that mother nature could throw at it. That one lasted a couple of weeks and now its gone again. How many times do I continue this battle? Do I let the thief of our collective creative outlet win? Never. I have an unlimited supply of pads and pencils at hand. The story continues as long as I can get to Staples at least once a week. Stay Tuned!!!!   

Carry On

I don't have anything witty or profound on my mind but I wanted to write something to help me remember me how I felt today. After reading and listening to the accounts of yesterday's terrorist attack in Boston I thought ..what do we do now? The first responders ,doctors,witnesses,good Samaritans and reporters have all done there job. What do the rest of us do? We feel helpless,powerless and vulnerable. We say a pray for the victims and wish the survivors a swift recovery. We thank those who helped and count our blessings if we were not directly affected.  But for most of us there is little else that we can really do but carry on.

Kayla, my daughter, sent me a picture of armed military inspecting bags on the subway. I know that it is something that she has never been thru before but she went about her daily routine determined to carry on. I guess that is the best that we can do sometimes. Show who ever perpetrated this heinous act that collectively we are stronger than them, and that no matter what we will carry on.

Yesterday in just a few short minutes we saw the worst and the absolute best in humanity and for the rest of us it is time to.....carry on.

Patience

I'm in a hurry, maybe a little bit late. I'm in my car sitting at a red light behind somebody who doesn't realize or care that I'm am late and right behind them. I'm trying to take a right at the light but the car in front of me wont move the three inches forward that I need to get by him and make my turn. I'm frustrated...doesn't he see me??..cant he just move a tiny bit....LOOK IN THE MIRROR YOU BOOB!!!

I know that I shouldn't expect everyone to get out of the way because "I am in a hurry"..but why don't they all go home and get out of my way. ARGGHHHHH!!!!
My father used to ask me "why all of these people are out in the middle of the day??...doesn't anybody work??? I would to say "Dad the car next to us is going to the doctors like you are....mmmmm....the rest of them are drug dealers and welfare recipients like you thought." My father would nod in agreement as we sat impatiently at the red light....(sigh)

I now drive quite a lot and I go slower and I don't feel as rushed as I use to. At work I have to take it easy because of my cargo and the size of the vehicle. Besides if I cut somebody off or break the law the name of the company is on the side of the bus and I don't think they would appreciate me getting a ticket or running over somebody's puppy in the crosswalk. Its just easier to let everyone rush past you. I feel like everyone else is in a race and I'm the old man that I used to honk at to get going. Even my daughter yells at me to not let people cut in front of me on the streets of Boston where people drive like they are at the Talledega Speedway. Who cares if the idiot in front of me wants to take my bumper off while texting his girlfriend. At least look at me before you sideswipe me ....

I was gonna write about being patient. Slowing down. Giving others the benefit of the doubt. But I cant ...I gotta go...I gotta finish this so that I can.....mmmm...what was I gonna do anyway???....

Cheap Razors

It's almost midnight on any Wednesday evening and I can't sleep. It happens every week. The seconds slowly tick by (well since I don't have a watch so there is no real ticking ...but you know what I mean). I'm waiting for a message. An email from the heavens arrives and I can only guess at what surprises await.

Ocean State Job lot coupons!!!....  Every week I make a pilgrimage to the mecca of bargains. I buy what I need, (shampoo, soap, bundles of cheap screwdrivers...etc.) and I also look for the occasional inexpensive but much needed bungee cord to be used around the house for holding something down that would otherwise fly off into who knows where. I know what your thinking ...I'm waisting money buying junk that I don't need. At the risk of being sued ..yes in my travels I have found that some of the items that I have purchased in the past have not always lived up to my high standards. Lets take razor blades for instance. I don't shave everyday because ...well...I don't have to...nahhh. If they ever invent an industrial strength "Nair" for men I will be the first in line. I have tried beards in the past and may again but sometimes maintaining them is more work than shaving and short of looking like the long lost member of ZZ Top, I only go that route occasionally usually in the dead of winter. But back to razor blades...they should be cheap...after all they do wear out and who wants to spend a lot of money on something you know your going to throw away in a couple of days. I was given an electric razor for my first shaving experience way back when. It was one of my father's hand me down Norelco. I use to wonder why I would go to school everyday bleeding like stuck pig after "shaving" the three blond hairs hanging from my chin that the Brothers at LaSalle said made me look like some kind of commie, atheist ,hippie. I was , I later found out ,using a 10 year old worn out hand me down electric razor that had seen its best years on the face of a middle aged angry at the world fireman...thanks Dad!  Well after trying to find the perfect razor that lasts a month and costs a buck I have finally given in and bought a "real razor that cost money", to quote Joann.

Don't worry I will still buy the scratchy see thru toilet paper that my family loves and many other necessities with my coupons. It is really a great place for bargains like printer paper and things like gardening supplies that I use a quite a lot. I just have to use better judgement and more restraint when I have those coupons calling from my wallet. After all there are other places with bargains that I can explore....did somebody say Dollar Store???

Trash or Treasure?

I hate littering. I know I shouldn't get so upset but driving along and seeing the piles of crap at the side of the road drives me crazy. I can see more of it now since the snow has melted. I have been known to "ask" people if they lost something after picking up a coffee cup that they "dropped" in a parking lot while walking back to their car. Some people don't seem to appreciate my tidy sense of humor when it comes to helping them retrieve a lost cigarette butt or the remains of their half eaten lunch when it ends up on the ground in an other wise pristine parking lot. ( Is it me or does it seem that people tend to litter more if there is other garbage nearby?? I call it the Alice's Restaurant Syndrome....listen to the song is the only clue I will give you for that one....)
I recently found something at particular area that I use everyday. My Woods...yea they are mine...
I often come back to the car after a long morning walk in the wild, woods of Wickford , with two dogs and my pockets full of everything from last nights beer can to a old can of hair spray that somehow found itself onto the trail. On this particular day I was trying to get my wandering pouches back on the trail  when I noticed that the pile of treasures that they where exploring seemed rather large for this area of the woods. The pile include car parts,bottles,shoes and half of a pitch fork. I began thinking that there might be something old enough that it wouldn't just be garbage it might actually have turned into something valuable that we call an "antique" Something so old that it is no longer junk but now worth more money than when it was new. Go figure. Where is the line between this antique thing and trash? Imagine the Pharaohs wife saying " Murray don't throw that out someday it will be priceless and be admired by millions"..."But its just a vase" Murray would say. ( Wait, wait...Murray??? ...when did the pharaohs become Jewish?)
Well next time I find something on the trail or have it hit my windshield after falling out of the car in front of me I will preserve it for future generations to admire.  

The End

Am I gonna die? Sure I am. Hopefully not today but I know someday. Do I think about it? Yea I have thought about it for a long time. Its one of the things that I do. It helps me enjoy what I have ...when I have it because if there is one thing that I do know for sure is that everything changes, time moves on, etc. I'm not obsessed with these thoughts ( ok define obsessed...I have these thoughts occasionally).I happen to think its healthy, at least for me, to think about the end. It makes the time before the end all the more sweeter. I didn't mean to write today about the end but as the title of the blog says these are my "ramblings" and I do tend to ramble.
Ok what was I really gonna talk about today...oh yeah I remember ( I really  don't remember I am looking at notes that I wrote down cause I knew I would lose my train of thought). I wanted to mention that I have been trying amongst other things to learn to play an instrument. I stink at it so I'm trying to learn two at once. I know that makes no sense but it is actually starting to work. When I get sick or frustrated with one I turn to the other and since they are both very different it works. I have had both of these instruments for sometime. One , the guitar I have had over 20 years, a present on my 40th birthday. The other a bagpipe chanter was another more recent present.
I have found that learning both doesn't have to mean that I'm good a playing either or that I will ever play any notes that together sound like music. I have given up that dream a long time ago. But I will keep trying because I enjoy the process. The possibility that it will get better but if not its fun to try. I guess I'm doomed to this way of learning anything new, a language, how to write etc. I enjoy the doing, the learning, the journey and not necessarily just the END.
          

A New Car

The Department of Motor Vehicles. The name itself scares you... doesn't it?  So many forms, so many lines...am I in the right place??...where do I stand??....why do I even own a car???...everyone has the same blank stare. It's like we are lost in some twilight zone, a place where time and the out of work ,retired, on disability,plumber between jobs, still wearing what I wore to bed last night,cellphone addicted people, collide. But I'm here for a reason and not just to get subject matter for this silly blog.
We have a new car in the family. How we got it became a long complicated journey. My car is getting real old and one old car driven by an old man ain't cutting it. So I set out to find something and with me as many of you know that can be a thorough ,intricate and sometimes nerve racking process. It involves talking to car salesmen, endlessly searching thru want ads for the right deal, rewinding television commercials when I hear a new lease deal while I'm immersed in my Ipad as I "watch" tv. Should I lease, buy a new one,find a used one on craigslist...Corolla, Volkswagen, Nissan...???? the choices are endless.  Jo just rolls her eyes when I say that I have found a new perfect deal completely negating the one I told her about before she went to bed. ( A lot can happen in the wee hours of the night, running thru endless ads for new cars on the computer while watching reruns of the "The Odd Couple") "Mmmm she liked her Corolla and here is a 2008 for sale in Providence for 7000....ahhh damm 250,000 miles" The next deal is the best deal...if I wait just a little longer. Then on the way home from picking up Jo from work she says "heh that car looks nice", describing a car we just passed at a used car dealer.
I immediately do a u turn into the car lot.  
Well I wont bore you anymore with the details but we did buy a used car that is " a nice color"....(heh If I new it was that easy I would have let her do all the work). I have learned from the past. If she don't like it, don't buy it. I could find a 2010 BMW for $632 and Jo would say..."But it's black"...
The car is hers not mine. I will clean it,change the oil and sell it when I have to but make no mistake it's not mine. That is a good thing. Happiness is a happy wife and right now that means a 2010 Kia. 
 

Snow

So I'm getting the shovel out and waiting for the last snow storm of the season to start. ( I said that about the last one)  In the garage I see a shovel with a number burned into it. Its from my father's fire company in the Providence Fire Department. Engine 5. Now I don't mind shoveling snow and I will continue to do as long as my back holds out. Joann keeps asking when we are getting a snow blower and i think about it as the snow gets heavier each year. Its a fact, it is heavier than it used to be, it gets heavier every year,look it up, no kidding. I don't really shovel the driveway. instead I just drive up and down with my 4Runner a hundred times until I run out of gas or the snow is flat enough to drive over. But I do have to shovel the sidewalks, the 4Runner doesn't fit there. I even shovel the sidewalk in front of the house. Heh kids and dog walkers gotta get to Wickford and I don't want them getting killed walking in the street, at least not in front of my house. The last thing that I usually do before I collapse and have some cocoa is shovel the hydrant across the street.

Now its not on my property and I'm sure the fire department wouldn't let my house burn down if they came by to put out a fire at my home and saw that it was covered with snow. " The hell with him, let it burn, I forgot the shovel anyway"...I don't think so...  So I shovel around the hydrant and its something that my dad taught me in a crazy way....(.you remember him, I began this by mentioning him). He HATED snow...I mean HATED it. He would curse out the window at the sign of the first flakes. I never understood why until later when I realized that he had a bad back and every time it snowed the firemen would tour the city shoveling hydrants. Well here I am now keeping the neighborhood safe and a tradition alive.          

We wont get fooled again?

     I was a bit apprehensive as I knocked on the door. The person I was seeking out was late for her own birthday party. She had just finished a morning brunch party with her family an hour earlier and she was probably resting, after all she was 104 years old today. I tapped softly on her door fully expecting no response. That would have been fine with me since I was not really looking forward to barging in as a stranger to this woman's apartment. But instead I heard a faint, " Please come in" , from inside the room. I opened the door to find her sitting on the couch leafing thru her birthday cards. I explained who I was and that her presence was requested by her friends downstairs for her second birthday party of the day. She practically sprang to her feet with the query, " More cake?" I assured her that there would indeed be cake and that I was her escort. As we walked to the elevator at a surprisingly rapid pace I asked her for words of wisdom from somebody who had years before pasted the century mark. She stopped and looked up at me as we got to the elevator and squeezed my hand and said that everyone assumes because she has lived a long time people think that she has cornered the market on wisdom. Not always true. She did say that she has learned to enjoy remembering the past but said that if you wish things were as the use to be then you will miss what is happening right in front of you. Important things like...cake.
     I know that has been said by many in different ways and I didn't much think about it until later this week at the concert of an old band that I hadn't seen in years and who ,(hint hint...lol), used be the very picture of young, loud, rowdy rock n' roll that I loved. Now they were a shell of themselves and     I once swore that I would never want to see them or any of my other adolescent idols of music mayhem in the declining years. Rock was young and always should be I thought.
Well the show was slow to start and with lowered expectations I figured I would least get a last chance to see these rock gods one more time before the end. The show picked up steam and I thought why not just enjoy some music instead of thinking about what the band used to be. Even back then as with a lot of what I remember as the glorious past the band had its faults. Members passing out on stage, out of tune, showing up late, etc but somehow in my memory that is all forgiven because both they and I were young.
     I enjoyed the show despite my attitude going in. I accepted the band as they are now. Still able to perform but different than what they were. I guess that is the point in a lot of things ...nothing stays the same. Who would want it to? We have a certain comfort level that helps us cope better if we know some things will always stay the same important things like gravity, the taste of a good beer and the loyalty of friends. But the rest of the world is moving all of the time and its better to move with it because it as somebody once said "time and tide wait for no man".
     So I enjoyed a night out and my ears are still ringing ( but that isn't from last nights concert but from the hundreds before it) .....so it wasn't the band like it used to be....heh ..neither am I ....so like a slightly older new friend said to me "enjoy the cake in front of you".  
  

The Fire

Today like everyone else I'm thinking about the The Station Fire. We all know somebody who was affected by that day. I don't have anything to had that has been said already and if I did it would pale in comparison to the heartbreaking stories of those more closely involved.
We were landing at the airport that night and I remember looking out the window and seeing the flames in the distance. As we rode home I noticed many emergency vehicles passing us going north. I knew it was something bad. I have often thought about how many times I was in cramped clubs with music blasting and having a great time with friends not thinking about what could happen. I think of it now when I'm in a new crowded, public place.
I don't know, I really don't know...(sigh)  Such a tragedy.   

The Storm

It's dark outside. It's dark inside. The storm rages on. The power is out but the fire is warm. Thank God for batteries and wood stoves. I don't have any place to go or anything to do. I'm limited on both counts because of the snow. It is as if time has stopped. I asked if they needed help at work and it seems most friends and family are safe so its time to rest before the storm ends and the world starts moving again. Its midnight and Joann is asleep worrying like i am that the pipes will freeze during what is gonna be a cold night. But outside on the porch it is quiet except for the rush of a cold wind overhead carrying more white stuff that seems to being coming down sideways now. There is a certain calm that I feel. Maybe it is from being tired. Maybe its the dark and the quiet inside. I like a storm like this it forces me to stop for a few minutes. I mean really stop, everything, at least for a while. I know the world will start turning again soon and if it stopped for to long I would go nuts but at least for a little while I can relax. Relax and breath a little ...think about nothing and everything..... relax and do nothing.....everything is good ......ahhh...come to think of it I am hungry though...   

A Winter Morning

It's cold. The kind of cold that goes right to your bones. But today walking thru the woods I feel refreshed more than frozen. I'm with the dogs as usual and the path that we are on is one that we wander down on a regular basis but today it feels different. I can feel the crunch of a new dusting of snow under my feet and the sun is beginning to peak out from early morning clouds. My lungs fill with the cold air as the dogs wander around me sniffing at random spots along the trail. The woods are quiet and I find myself stopping more than usual to revel in the stillness. I'm not thinking of anything particular just enjoying the solitude and the peace that it brings. I can smell the winter and taste the quiet frosty air. I drink it in. Today is a day for the senses. I feel so lucky to have these moments and I thank whatever spirit, luck or planning has given me the ability to feel them. Now it is time to move on. Besides the dogs are both starring at me as if I've lost my way, my mind or both.   .   

The Hat

I had started to write about something thoughtful and perhaps inspirational today but as I typed the words became more lame as I finished each sentence. Should I change the world with my pompous inspirational thoughts today? Nahhh

Truth be told I was interrupted, thankfully, from my grand musings by my wife when she called and asked if I wanted to come by the dentist and get a cavity filled. Well as tempting as that invitation was I wasn't quite ready for the trip. I hadn't yet showered as I was prepared to spend the day  chopping some firewood or doing other manly chores like cleaning bathrooms. I was a mess. But I wasn't getting anywhere writing hoping to put off the chores until it was to late in the day to do them.  So I agreed to come by. You see since I have time on some days to fill in when they get a cancellation I felt it was my duty to help the business by going under the drill for an hour. You see I am the guy they call when somebody cancels and they don't want take a second lunch at two in the afternoon to fill the time.

As I said I wasn't prepared for this, dirty jeans, smelly socks and worse than that messy hair.
Well being at home alone none of these things mattered at least to the dogs, who being my only company never complained. Now I had to decide should I shower or just do what was easy, change my socks and put on a hat. Could they work on me while I wore my hat? Would it be in the way while I lay there mouth open drill whiring away inches from my wandering tongue? I had a choice. No hat but that would really bad hair. ( I warned you that this wouldn't be an inspirational story)  OK to end the suspense and let you get on with your life I didn't wear a hat but I did the best that could with my hair with some water and a brush. It wasn't pretty but it worked. Maybe  I should take a shower every morning like the rest of the world so I am prepared for what ever the day has in store. Next time.     

Friends

I was trying to think of the last time I made a new friend. I was out with a bunch of "old friends" and I mean that in both age and time that we have known each other. We have been thru a lot together. Most of them I have know literally all of my life. I'm talking most of the 60 years that I have been on this planet. We grew up on the same streets most with in 1/2 mile of my house and my oldest friend was right across the street. They have been and will continue to be some of the best people in my life.

But I was thinking ....when was the last time I made a new friend? 

I'm not talking about people that you know thru work or meet casually thru others. I'm talking about somebody who knows the personal details of your life. Somebody that you trust. It is hard to do especially as you get older, I think. The friends that you have are people who have earned that trust and thru either circumstance or design are people that you have needed at sometime in your life and they came thru for you when you needed them.

I have made new friends with others since I was a kid and some them have become very good friends. But how did they become my friend ? Do I want more?. Do I need more?  If I do how is it done?  Do you walk up to somebody and ask ...."Want to be friends?" ...I don't think so.

I guess I don't have any answers now, just questions. 

The Blind Shower

I'm wet and blind. The shower is hot and I'm nearly finished all that I have to do is wash my hair which I do at the end of my shower. (Am I getting to personal here?) Well I fumble around on the shelf in the shower looking for my shampoo. I know it by the shape and color of the bottle. It's not there and I panic. I suddenly remember that I had taken a shower downstairs and brought my shampoo there...why?...well that is another story for another day.

What to do now? I guess I could use the bar of soap in my hand, I've done it before that last time this happened. But there are thousands of other bottles within my reach and one of them must have shampoo in it. I live with two other woman. No my name isn't Jack Tripper, its my wife and my daughter. Well these woman collect all kinds of lotions, soaps, shampoos in multicolored bottles crowded on a small shelve in the shower. I don't ask what they are all for or why there are so many. But now I need one of them but which one? I randomly reach for a bottle hoping that I get one that says shampoo. I don't care at this point if is scented with apples, pine cones or ammonia, I just want to clean my hair. Well the bottle is in my hand but I have no idea what the contents hold. I CAN"T READ THE LABEL. The water is streaming down my face and I strain to read something that will tell me if I am abut to clean,straighten or color my hair. I didn't think that I would have to bring my glasses with me to the shower . Showering blind. Dam! I wonder if people wear there contacts in the shower of if they make braille labeled shampoo bottles? Well a little bit out of each bottle should do the trick especially since I may be running low on hot water. The next time I will perscription googles   

Work?

I like my job. This isn't something new since I have enjoyed many jobs over the years but sometimes a job can become a burden, something that has become either a habit or a chore that you think that you HAVE to do.

Today as I go to work to a job that I recently started I find myself looking forward to each day.
I recently retired from a position that I held for 28 years. It was a long and winding road with the usual bumps along the way but it is over and that may be a story for another day. When I began looking for something else to do I was determined to find something that I wanted to do, not something that I had to do. I thought about things that didn't necessarily pertain to jobs but things that I enjoyed or new goals that I had. In the beginning it was easy. Having been behind a desk, inside and little contact with the outside world most of the day a job that got me outdoors was important. I also wanted to meet people again and when I narrowed it down I realized that I wanted to help in some way, but help who?  

When both of my parents were I alive I was involved in the day to day caring of them as they became older and more dependent on others for help. I enjoyed some of the process. I have never been shy when talking to people and I began to enjoy listening to stories about the lives of those who may not, because of age, be able to move as quickly as they once could. They were old and when your old things slow down. I found myself listen to complete strangers who loved telling me or anyone the stories of their lives. I would imagine them as kids and what their daily lives must have been like.

I was also was interested in somehow doing something for America's veterans. I'm am not a veteran so I felt that I owed something to these people who scarified so much so that I could enjoy the opportunities of this great country. Flying a flag on Memorial Day or buying a coffee for someone in uniform was easy but I wanted to do more.

Without getting to specific in my search to combine all of these in one job I continued to look for something that would maybe have one of these components as part of my new job. Well a new opportunity fell into my lap. I now work for a senior living facility. I have been able to fulfill every one of my goals when I started this job. I'm working with people who are older and need extra care in their day to day lives. I've found this to both interesting and rewarding in ways that I didn't anticipate. I am outside a great deal of the time seeing others living there lives.( I love observing people and how they act in small everyday situations, its my latest hobby.) And I am helping many veterans who have fascinating stories that ,to me, are more interesting and compelling than any book or story on the History Channel that I have ever seen or read. I guess it has to do with actually hearing from the person who was there when the story happened.

I am, as usual, very lucky to have found this position. It makes everyday that I work both rewarding and interesting. I guess I can't ask for more. And , don't tell anybody, I get paid for something that I might do for free. (What am I saying ...???....I'm crazy but not stupid)  

A Good Day for a Swim

 What started out as a warm cozy New Years Day with a hot wood stove and cozy couch soon became an icy cold salty splash fest.

I thought that I would start the new year resting at the end of a long busy holiday season. I would put my feet up and watch the parade of roses from Pasadena and maybe a little football from the hundreds of bowl games available before the only one that matters, Notre Dame vs Alabama in a week. But somebody had other plans. Down the stairs they came with the youthful exuberance that is usually found in young women on a caffeine high and bedroom full of boredom. "Lets go for a swim", one of them bellowed. My daughter and her friend beckoning me to join them in an impromptu plunge. My head immediately flashed back to a similar day a few years ago when I decided it might a good day for a swim in the middle of winter on a similar day . It wasn't that bad I seemed to remember. It would be over quickly. That was a mild 45 degree day, today it was in the 20's.
Well with a bit more prodding we headed out to the local beach. We were early so we waited for the official start of the festivities shivering in the snow covered sand looking at the cold blue ocean wondering like everyone around us what we were doing here. There were people around us who looked cold bundled in thieir winter coats. We had blue feet from standing on the shore shivering with others some dressed less warmly, others in only shorts or swimsuits.
The time had come. There was a quick countdown then a mad rush to the frigged water. The rest is a blur of arms legs ,cold, wet and astonished looks from those who realized that this might not have been the best idea that they had in this the first day of the new year.
It was over. We all headed for the comfort of our cars. Some lingering to take one more plunge in the icy waters but most satisfied that they had met whatever challenge had made them do this together. Because I know that none of us would be back tomorrow for another swim alone without the crowds or hoopla. The next time any of us we be back in the ocean would be sometime closer to the 4th of July when sane people go to the beach to swim.     

Is this weird?

This question is not for my daughter to answer because I know what she is thinking from the eye roll and sigh as she headed upstairs to her room when I asked.

I'm always thinking of ways to save money. Usually it involves little things like cheap toilet paper (heh, it was on sale and I was the only one at the store so I bought it) or the Job Lot coupons that I look forward to every week. They allow me to buy things that I may need like a tarp to cover the firewood or cheap shampoo that only I use or the most disgusting pasta sauce ever made. But i still look every Thursday for the Internet coupons thinking that I am saving money.

My latest and certainly not last attempt to salvage what is left of my weekly meager paycheck for more important things, is the use or I guess you would call it reuse of coffee cups. I'm not talking the real ones that you get as gifts that can be washed in the dishwasher. My favorite being "You'll shoot your eye out kid" cup that I got from my daughter. I'm talking about the paper or cardboard ones that you get from the local coffee shops that are meant to be used once then thrown away or should I say recycled.

I have started to save them and reuse them. They have become my coffee travel mug of choice.

First you have to wash them, obviously. I do this by running both the cup and the lid under hot or luke warm water just to get rid of the residue from the last shot of java. Then they must be air dried preferably in a rack that allows the air to circulate around the whole cup and lid. This process usually takes a day depending on humid, local temperature and other weather conditions. Is all of this worth it? Who knows. I haven't gotten sick yet from doing it and I'm not sure how many times they can be reused before the cup is reduced to a pile wet moldy cardboard.  Do this save any money? Couldn't I just get a reusable travel mug? Am I demonstrating the beginning signs of a hoarder?  Check me later and if I have hundreds of them drying on the porch in the summer sun in a few months then maybe you will have your answer. Until then I will continue to experiment with this an other behaviors that will hopefully save a few pennies but will I know seem odd to some but to me are behaviors that help me question my sanity daily. 

An Old Dog

He is slow to get up from his resting place, a warm worn out pillow that he calls home most of the day. His feet are wobbling under the weight of his withering body. His fur is more grey than black in many places. His eyes water and as he yawns and stretches for what seems like an eternity. Finally he is moving toward the open door as I wait there with his leash in hand. We walk out into the late afternoon sun just him and I today. The young pup, who is usually with us, is off with his mom, my daughter, today. So instead of struggling with a puppy running around my legs I am able to give all of my attention to the "old man" as I call him.

I give him a lift into the back of the SUV because he can't jump like he used to. He growls as if to say " I don't need your damm help to get in the car,..... put me down!"  He wont lie down in the back of the car as we wind our way thru traffic. I hear him skidding in the back as he tries to steady himself while I make a quick stop at a red light.

We get to our local trail in the nearby woods and as he jumps out of the back I grab his leash so that wont take off in the wrong direction. It has been awhile since he as been able to out run even me anywhere but he still has a stubborn independent streak and at the beginning of our walks tends to want to go his own way. Nowhere is this more evident than as we start down the trail. He takes for ever to get going, walking, stopping,sniffing, walking and more sniffing. Finally we are moving in semi straight direction. Normally the puppy being full of pent up energy is running far down the trail as we both leave the old man behind. But today it is just him and I and the walk becomes more of meandering stroll,stopping and starting every few feet to check every bush and rock on the trail. I begin to pick up the pace hopping that he will eventually catch up and before I can turn around to check his progress a grey and white blur passes almost between my legs nearly knocking me into the weeds. He is running now at a full sprint. His legs stretching out like great athlete in Olympic race heading down the track towards a gold medal . He runs with a grace that suggests a much younger dog. But it doesn't last as he slows to a trot and then to what looks like a labored walk. Soon we are heading back both of us with aches and pains. Neither of us able to go as far we once did. Both feeling all of the affects of age. But here we are together enjoying the warmth of the sun as it sets through the leafless trees. Walking together in step as we have done for many years and many miles. Today it feels good to have each other's company , two old men spending time on the trail.           

The Woods

I try to walk every day in the woods. These days it is because I have two dogs and they need exercise as much as I do. But I have noticed that it has become the chore that I thought it would be. I have experienced a joy of being outside that I missed while working many years in the bowels of the State House. I used to take long walks on Sunday mornings in the winter with Toby our 17 year old lab/retriever. Now i go out everyday that I'm not working for a morning walk at various places in the nearby woods. I vary the places from day to day. I never plan where I am going to go. Every place has its differences. Some like Bellville pond have winding paths that the dogs love to run on. Then there is Rome point that offers great views of the bay and places for the dogs to swim. Then sometimes we go to Ryan park which is used by horses and dog walkers alike. It offers a wide open path with open fields full of deer and things that the dogs love to chase. Each place is different.

I notice that it has become my place to think. relax and breath. I enjoy the sun,rain,snow every season has its pleasures. Sometimes you meet people and talk other times it is good to be alone. I wish everyone could experience something like this to give them some peace in there busy lives.