SoCS: frame

I’ve been sitting here for a while. . .  ‘frame’. Frame.

Let me frame a moment of my morning; (gosh, that’s a stretch.) That moment is me, sitting on a huge, stuffed chair I was lent because I have no couch right now. We had no power: the electricity or hydro, as we call it in Canada, was out.

(Background to framing the moment): I had woke up around 5:45 and realized the power was out: the fan was not blowing a breeze through the bedroom. The atmosphere was dense and dark. I went back to sleep hoping it would be back on when I woke up again. It was not.

We are having a heat wave as I’m sure most of you are, too. This is brutal. Hot and humid right through the night. I am so fortunate to have central air conditioning, I don’t take it for granted because I have lived without it. Nowadays, its necessary.

Yesterday I did a lot of TV viewing. The rain completely missed us so I went out and watered everything. HOLY MOLY! It’s hot! I thanked God when I went back in to my cool house, my big stuffed chair and TV. OMG: I’m so happy to be retired and not have to go to work! That’s when we forget how great it is to have electricity.

Every morning, when I get up, I turn on my computer and my coffee-maker. I go to the bathroom, splash cold water on my face, get my coffee and head to my computer.

Not this morning.

I went and sat on my big chair and stared at the black TV. I need coffee. Please come on. What will I do if it doesn’t come on? I need coffee. It’s 7:30 a.m. and its already hot out. What do I do now? What am I going to do today? I need coffee.

That’s what I repeated, over and over, until that lovely hum and click of my answering machine told me it was on. YAY!

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “frame.” Use it as a noun or a verb or any way you like.

https://lindaghill.com/2019/07/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-20-19/

SoCS: How to Watch TV

I watch a lot of TV and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Like most people, I hate commercials and have found ways to avoid them. Here are my instructions for watching TV:

Record everything; constantly peruse the guide for shows that have too many commercials and save them. Sometimes you want to watch smart stuff but sometimes you want stupid stuff with people who make you feel better about yourself. Ghost and scary shows can be saved for daytime viewing when there aren’t many ghosts around. The Daily Show can be recorded to watch at dinner the next day instead of sleeping through most of it. Old movies can be saved for rainy afternoons.

Perhaps you see a show that is streaming and you want to watch it now. Watch it until the first commercial then start a recorded show. The show that is streaming is running behind the recorded show so you can run it back when the recording is stopped.  Its good to keep half hour shows and shows with comedians or skits such as SNL for that purpose so that you can stop it and go back to the streaming program; running it back to where you left off.

Watching Dateline and 48 Hours at the same time is not recommended; it gets very confusing.

Your feet should be up on an ottoman or something similar. (Right now I have a Rubbermaid storage bin with a pillow on top). Remotes should be at a 50°angle just beyond your reach. That way you get a little movement to keep your blood circulating. You’re working your core!

Snacks should be at a 30° within reach. A drink should be on the opposite side, also within the 30- 50° angle and within reach. Your cell phone should be within viewing sight but not desperately close. If you are serious about TV, its more important than your phone.

Warning: DO NOT watch Dr. Pimple Popper while you are eating.

I hope this has enhanced your TV viewing experience.

 

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “instructions.” Write instructions for anything you know how to do. As detailed or as rambling as you’d like.

https://lindaghill.com/2019/07/12/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-13-19/

SoCS: chew/ choo

Wassa matta whit choo? That’s what came to mind. How can a make a post about chewing? Mmm. those M ‘n M’s I chewed on last night where so good.

I wanted to write about my friend, a spider, who lived under my kitchen window for almost two months. I would like to say she chewed on ants but spiders suck rather than chew.

I left her there because I thought she would be a deterrent for the endless parade of tiny ants that keep looking. looking for something, anything. She would get an ant every once in while, there was a little pile of empty husk ant corpses below her but that didn’t scare them away.

She grew daily and didn’t go anywhere so I left her to the all-you-can-eat-ant smorgasbord.

Ants chew. Damn it, they can find the smallest crumb left over and before you know it an army comes out to share the feast. One forgotten grain of cooked quinoa, invisible on the counter, surrounded by little ants looks like a flower as they encircle and chew on it.

I’d choose one spider living with me than these unrelenting ants.

But I had to let her go. The other day there was a familiar little ball next to her. Oh yeah, I’ve seen those little balls explode into hundreds of little tiny spiders and that wasn’t going to happen in my kitchen.

Very carefully, with tweezers, I pulled the sac and the spider into a plastic jar and took her outside. My intention was to put it in a safe, sheltered spot to hatch.

But I dropped it. (Gasp!) I dropped it.  I saw the spider hurry away but could not see the egg sac. I’m pretty sure it fell between the boards on my deck.

I’m sorry Ms. Spider. I didn’t choose to separate you from your babies. Do spiders stick around for the hatching? Do they care? Do they feel their young? Is she upset she’s away from her safe home?

One side of my mind chewed on this for a while but the other side of my mind argued, “WTF? Its only a spider. Don’t be such an idiot.”

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “chew/choo.” Use one or both, any way you’d like.

https://lindaghill.com/2019/07/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-6-19/

RDP: sputtering

Whwhwhaaatt!  I sputtered, Its Canada Day! Hey, if this was the July 4th there would be ‘America the Beautiful’ all over this site. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to be party-pooper and complain about fireworks.

I live in a beach community and there are fireworks in the summer on any given night, for no apparent reason. But now its Canada Day. There were fireworks at the campgrounds Saturday night. I think its a ‘welcome back’ thing: first weekend of the summer.  There are quite a few Americans with cottages and trailers here as we are close to the U.S. border.

Last night (Sunday) there were fireworks in 3 different directions. They weren’t close enough to see but sounded like they were next door. There was one place setting off canons, I swear. I was far away from them and they were way too loud.

Not only that: every once in a while, into the wee hours of the morning, another one will go off. I can imagine a couple of drunks around a campfire thinking it would be funny to let one off after everyone has gone to bed.

But the scariest ones were those that make a whistling sound going up then spiral down, sputtering. That sounded like it was right in the woods next to me. It sounded like burning and crackling right through the trees.

It scary for me and I know what it is. I’ve had 3 dogs in my life and every one was so afraid of fireworks they would cower and shake.  The animals and birds must be the same: it must be terrifying.

Today is Canada Day. Tonight is the big firework night. The last two nights were just the prelude to firework frenzy!

All that money burned, the pollution and the noise; its excessive.

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Happy Canada Day! I love this country and feel very fortunate to live here!

 

 

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/07/01/rdp-monday-sputter/

SoCS: four days

Four days. It took me four days to paint my guest room. It’s small and has a low ceiling but I had to do things in stages for I’m 66 years old and run out of steam after four hours.

Sunday I emptied the room: my sister helped me get the bed propped up in the hallway. The shelves and all the stuff on them is in the kitchen.

(Monday I was out all day so that doesn’t count)

Tuesday I washed the entire room with Lysol cleanser for mildew. It had that elusive ‘old room’ smell.

Wednesday I cleaned the textured ceiling with diluted bleach spray and a clean roller. I saw it on YouTube. I decided it would be too big a job to paint the ceiling; it was good enough. Then I taped and painted around the doors and trim. By then it was four o’clock and I could not do another thing for I was so frigging exhausted. I could not muster up the energy for the first rolling.

Thursday I woke up and thought ‘I’m getting this ‘MF’ room done today!’ I did it. I did the first rolling, then the second trip around the trims, then the second rolling. It was so hot I was dripping sweat. I was so tired I was stumbling and cranky but I wasn’t going to leave it for one more day!

Yesterday I took down the tape then went to visit my aunt and pick up a few groceries. This is the Canada Day weekend. The traffic around here was already getting busy yesterday, now it will be crazy.

What are my plans for this holiday weekend? This morning I’ll use a dry rug cleanser and start putting everything back. What fun.

Monday people are coming to take away my old couch so they can help me get the bed back into the guest room.  Then I start preparing to paint the living room.

I have about four weeks fore my new couch is delivered. I’m sure it will take that long to finish it.

So this is my answer for the mindless question people ask; “Have any plans for the summer?” :

“Painting.”

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “for/fore/four.” Use one, use ’em all, use ’em any way you want. Bonus points for using all three.

https://lindaghill.com/2019/06/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-29-19/

SoCS: leaves

‘I can’t wait until she/he leaves.’ That’s what I say to myself when I have company.

For years no one visited me. I’ve been in this house for almost 12 years and rarely did I get a visitor. I would get all ‘going to the garden to dig worms’ depressed about it. I invited people but they never came.

Its not Muskoka after all. People from Toronto go to Muskoka in the summer where there’s 1000’s of lakes and big rock outcroppings. Yeah, its nice. It’s the North.

South Western Ontario has a reputation for being boring and flat. And who wants to go to Sarnia? (say people in Toronto) Its snobbery, I tell you, Big City snobbery.

Now perhaps the drive here from Toronto is pretty damn boring. Its farm land with windmills, an occasional hill here and there: its quite flat. My ex stated just the other day about his trip here, taking a new route I suggested, “Its so damn boring!”  Oh, Golly, I’m sorry your trip wasn’t more exciting.

But things have changed: I’ve had more company than I’ve had the whole time I’ve been in this house. I’ve washed the guest bed sheets more often than they’ve ever been washed, ever.

Mind you; only one of those people has been from Toronto and that was my friend I found on Facebook after 50 years apart. She’s been twice.

My old caving buddy came to visit for the first time; she lives in Waterloo. And my ex has been back. Last week he said he was coming for the day and would be here around 11:00. He showed up at 1:30 with all his overnight stuff. (no, he doesn’t bother me sexually) Still very inconsiderate and bossy.

I have another friend who is coming in a couple of weeks (she’s from Toronto) so I am getting ready to paint the guest room. It needs it badly and this guest is picky and . . . well, not ever very complimentary. And I want her to pass on how peaceful it is here.

I want it to be nice. I want people to be feel comfortable and take in the Spirit of Ipperwash.

But then I think; “I can’t wait until she/he leaves.”

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “leaves.” Use it as a noun or a verb.

https://lindaghill.com/2019/06/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-22-19/

SoCS: social

 

There is a sign on the road to town that advertises a Strawberry Social today but its been so cold I wonder how many people are social enough to go anyway, even though there are no strawberries yet. (Or unaware that strawberry season is way behind)

But this isn’t about strawberries, this is about ‘social’.  I’m not but I know I should at least try to be because being alone all the time is not a good thing. Its bad for your health, mentally and ultimately physically.

I don’t just volunteer in a mental health program: I’m a member. It does me a world of good to meet with this group and get my dose of social contact. Perfect for an introvert; a scheduled one or two hours a week. Boom, its 2:30. . .  that’s enough, I can go home feeling pretty good.

It sure beats going to a party, feeling like the odd-man-out and wondering when its polite enough to leave. Or ‘going for coffee’ to chit-chat: no thanks.

If you get chance to watch “One Nation Under Stress” with Sanjay Gupta, please do so. He talks about the importance of being social: we are hard-wired as social beings. The success of our society today depends on us looking after each other and not just looking out for ourselves.

For introverts that is not easy. You have to step out of your comfort zone but its worth it. Those few hours with my group does me a world of good. People I know and trust, feel safe with. People like me!

However, I’m not envious of social butterflies. I don’t know how they can stand it! I would be exhausted by their lives. I really need to crawl back into my mental cave and not talk after a lot of social interaction. Re-charge my batteries.

Lately I’ve had more company staying with me than the whole 11 years I’ve lived here!  Its all been good; but I’m happy to have this rainy weekend to myself.

My social schedule is on my fridge; Its supported by United Way and our community health centre. It’s Free and those who don’t have a car can arrange to be picked up. This is great for rural people living in isolation. Programs like this are so important!

It sure means a lot to me.

 

 

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “social.” Use it any way you’d like.

https://lindaghill.com/2019/06/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-15-19/

RDP; Surprising Bats

I would like to have seen the look on those bat’s faces when they saw this;

Surprise! you bats.

They did this last year: got into the soffit vents over my bedroom, sounding like they were right over my head trying to get in! It tried moth balls to no avail, they drove me crazy all summer. This year I got the big guns; an owl.

I think it worked! Its been 3 days now without them waking me up.

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

I actually have seen the look of surprise on a bat’s face.

I was caving in West Virginia on my hands and knees in a passage that had many bats.  I heard a bat squeal so I looked around but didn’t see a hurt bat so I kept going. Heard the squeal again and as I hurried on my hands and knees realized that no matter how far or fast I went I could hear the squeal the same.

I look over my shoulder and there it was; a tiny, little bat sitting on my shoulder. I let a cry of surprise and fear and so did it, at exactly the same time. I’ll never forget being face to face with that bat when we both opened out mouths and squealed!

My friend, also a female, was behind me. We both freaked out trying to move this poor little bat with our muddy cave gloves. She got it onto a nearby ledge.

I often think of Bat-Boy when I reminisce, except this bat was so very tiny.

But that’s what it looked like!

 

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/06/09/rdp-sunday-surprise/

SoCS: point and write

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “open book, point, write.” Pick up the closest book to you when you sit down to write your post. Close your eyes, open the book, and place your finger on the page. Whatever word or phrase your finger lands on, write about it.

 

This was so funny I had to use it. The first book closest to me was Rolling Stone photographs but it had no words at all so I chose the next book; “Tiling Complete”. Ha! as if I would ever attempt tiling my bathroom.

My finger landed on this photo:

My finger landed right on the toilet. Without context or reading the subtext it looked like a guy missing his mark.  NO! Lift the lid! You’re supposed to go in the bottom part!

 

https://lindaghill.com/2019/06/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-8-19/

RDP: directional

Is that really a word: directional? I doubt if I have ever used it in a sentence.

The sun is directional. If the sun is shining I have to work outside. There is so much to do right now. I usually do what bothers me the most when I look out the window. Right now that is my Gold Flame Azalea with a foot of grass growing in front of it. All the shrub beds need weeding and mulching.

On Wednesday I did not want the sun. I wanted a day off, not a day doing housework, a day OFF and for that I need rain. Of course I had to do some housework in the morning but I lounged and watched TV all afternoon. No, I don’t feel guilty about it at all. My PVR is full of stuff I save, some especially for daytime viewing; like Ghost Adventures. I can’t watch that at night; its too close to bedtime. Then its not so entertaining! The sun is directional, directing ghosts away. At night you are lying there with your eyeballs bugged open like this will be the first time you see a ghost.

Like the time I saw an orb; or thought I did.

I was lying in my bed and saw a small green orb of light on my ceiling. My eyes bugged open and my heart started beating faster. I blinked quickly a few times but it was still there and then it started moving. I was really freaking out! I could not believe what I was looking at! Then it blinked a couple of times but a familiar kind of blink . . . it was a firefly walking on my ceiling. Because I’m short-sighted a bit of light appears round when blurry. Relief flooded through my body and I laughed; it was only a firefly. I can reach the ceiling standing on my bed so I caught it in a jar. So happy, so relieved.

But I digress. The sun is directional; I will work outside until my body refuses to do any more.

 

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/06/07/rdp-friday-directional/