Category: SA Times

Joyce and I finished wrapping our Christmas presents Saturday morning after breakfast. Joyce had already done a few but there were some large, odd-shaped items that were better handled by four hands rather than two. Later we took Barbara Howard one of the yummy strawberry bread loaves Joyce had baked and visited with her a while. The day started out chilly but there was little wind and there was some nice sunshine so we took advantage of the nice weather to work on cleaning up the garden. I had tried last weekend to get the shredder started without success but Bryant the Wizard said to take the air filter off and put in a couple of teaspoons of gas right into the carburetor. Sure enough, it started up. I had to do that several times before it would keep running. I guess it had been a couple of years since it was started. Anyway we shredded some of the garden growth, which is quite dead and brittle now. We didn’t finish but we made a pretty good start. Continue reading “Cruising to Christmas” →

Thursday late afternoon I watched a squall on the weather service radar move towards town from the west. There was a possibility of severe weather and even tornadoes so it was with some interest I monitored its approach. Finally, as it seemed to be on top of us judging from the drops of rain I could see from the cave window, I stepped outside to have a look. What was approaching was a solid wall of cloud from the west black as Satan’s soul but lit by constant lightening. What was more astounding was the continuous thunder. I’ve never seen or heard anything like it. It was so fearsome I half expected the four horseman of the apocalypse to come riding out of the storm. It rained, blew and hailed and quickly passed. I understand a trucker lost his life when it turned his 18-wheeler over. I called Barbara Howard to see if she wanted me to come get her but her daughter who was heading home had called from about the Canadian River to tell her mom she was coming back so Barbara wanted to stay put to wait for her. I don’t know how much rain we got, not much, and there were little piles of the very small hail where the the rain ran off the roof. Continue reading “Strange weather” →

Abigail complimented this website Friday evening as we were stuffing pizza in our faces. Guess that means she’s reading it which means I’ll have to watch what I say. After pizza we went to her last volleyball game and, though the other team won, Abigail’s team was competitive with them and the other team was better than most. They had a girl that may have been taller than me and they were using her at the net. They had been coached to get the ball up so she could slam it. Well, she didn’t really slam it but she could reach the top of the net so she could easily direct the ball down at an angle that was hard to defend. I got all worked up and wanted to tell Abigail’s team to stop lobbing the ball in the front court of their opponent where they could easily execute their little strategy. I even went so far as to tell Abgail when she was serving to put it in the backcourt. The season is over and I’m not sorry. As much as I enjoy watching the Abster play, I get a little frustrated at what I consider to be the nonsense that goes on. Basketball is next and no one will have the chance to act out their silly little girly routines because they’ll have to get back on defense. So sayeth the curmudgeon. Continue reading “Underage girls” →

Joyce has a pet skunk and I’m not talking about her hubby.  She feeds it every night.  I don’t think she pets it very much.  She mostly observes it from inside the house, which is wise.  At first she wanted me to handle it, but I drug my feet long enough so that I think she’s forgotten that. Continue reading “Skunk works” →

We buried Kitty Saturday morning with a cherry bush from an Arbor Day bare root seedling to mark the spot. Chloe had been ill for some time, started going downhill a week or so ago and slipped away in the wee hours Saturday morning with Joyce by her side. She was affable, patient and, as Abigail wrote on her headstone, a friend to everyone. She is survived by her brother Cotton and sister Khaki.