Beneath the Wraps

            Corey used to have a cat, which he named Starbuck.   Corey and Starbuck lived in the basement.   Starbuck would use the stairs on occasion.   I have fond memories of his racing up the stairs one December.               Each time the door was open, Starbuck would race up the stairs.   Each time he got faster.   His goal: to climb the Christmas tree.   One family member or another always caught him before he made it to the tree.   But on New Years Day there was no stopping him.   He actually stopped himself.             We had always taken the tree down on New Years Day.   I don’t know how long it had been down.   We were still cleaning up as I recall.   Starbuck was unstoppable.   He tore up those stairs and rounded the c...

            I wish that I could take Highness on the bus with me.   I know there ’ d be complaints.   He ’ s a good dog.   He really is.   But   he does tend to get loud when he gets excited.   And sometimes his excitement can be conveyed as threatening.   And there is no way I ’ m going to try to lift him anyway.         He has really been missing Biff – who is actually home right now.   He did let Highness into his room initially.   Biff wants to sleep.   Highness wants to be walked and stroked.   He hasn ’ t been getting the attention that he seeks right now – especially by way of walking.       I have taken him on occasional walks between my two bus commutes, but not very often.   The walk between bus stops and destinations can take a lot out of a me – especially now that the weather has tu...

         The first two days of December were rather bleak and cold – and I seemed to possess a personality to match the bitterness.   For that I am sorry.   I haven’t been feeling well this morning.   In addition I think the weather has been making me feel somewhat arthritic – although the size of my person has not been a tremendous help             It had started snowing sometime between 1:30 and 3:00 this morning and hasn’t stopped.   I gave Jenna the option of taking an earlier bus in case they were running late.   She opted for the earlier route which was running behind – as the well as the one behind that we normally take.   I know because it passed me as I was waiting for my return.          Going southbound was not an issue this morning.   Unfortunately northbound seems to be getting ...

Tomorrow is December 1st.  I am truly amazed at what an awesome November we've had.  Awesome in Salt Lake City, Utah, that is.  I understand they've had their fair share of snow in the southern part of the state - or windy or stormy weather.  But in my little corner of the world it's been a great November as far as the weather goes. Oh, there have been a couple of days that have chilled to the bone.  Just a couple is odd for November.  Usually seems filled with darkened skies and dry moisture - I realize that is an oxymoron on my part.  But the winters in Utah are harsh with a dry air quality - much drier than in the summer - and yet November is usually always filled with rain or snow or sleet or hail.  I don't understand why when the elements are wet the air is dry - but it is.  My skin and my mouth are always thirsty. Most all of the trees have lost their leaves by now.  There are still leaves crunching on the ground.  Only a ...

Our future daughter-in-law has two brothers who are still living.   One lives in Texas where his wife is from.   The other lives in a posh neighborhood at the south and east end of the valley. Yesterday we went to the posh neighborhood to meet Jeanie’s family and to have Thanksgiving dinner.   Biff had asked us to bring rice pudding – which to be honest with you - I have never had as part of a Thanksgiving dinner before.   Roland tried a new recipe (which was really very good by the way) and I found a container to put it in. I must admit that I felt out of place offering this pathetic container as we entered their fancy kitchen and saw dozens of dishes that seemed to make the rice pudding even smaller – shrinking with each passing minute until I felt like what we had contributed to the meal had only a cup of runny rice.   Jenna played with boys (Jeanie's nephews) while Roland and I visited with various family members.   Not only w...

I'm grateful to have second hand stores or gift cards or sales in which I can make a purchase for a book bag or back pack.   I ragged on my daughter's lack of responsibility in yesterday's post.  Her backpack had been in the car on Saturday but she doesn't remember seeing it on Sunday.  Someone had been in the car looking for something.  We concluded that the back pack had been stolen by whoever it was.  We made a police report, but I don't expect that anything will come of it.  Wish they would have at least emptied the contents before stealing the backpack though. Every once in a while I will see something quite profound on facebook.  I really like this thought posted by one of my friends: "I was shopping when I saw a purse for over $1,000.00 Really! for a purse! I could buy groceries for 2 months for the price of that purse. Wow, even if I had that kind of money to spare I could never spend that kind of money on something so frivo...

  Jenna’s room was not the neatest we lived in our first house but at least she did know where things were for the most part.   Over in West Valley I think she’s become less responsible with every passing year.   Puberty has certainly not made things easier.   She flies off the handle at every little suggestion.   I’ve been working on getting her to accept responsibility. Pick up after herself.   Get ready on time. I’ve used rewards.   I’ve taken away privileges.   I’ve been nice.   I’ve been ornery.   Nothing has seemed to work. Roland worked only half a day on Friday and thus just happened to pick us up after Jenna got out of school. Afterwards we ran errands and went shopping and did not return to the house until after 6:00. Before Jenna exited the car I told her to be sure and grab her backpack.   I specifically remember telling her to get it now so that it wasn’t left in the car when dad went to work on Mo...

Earlier in the summer of this year my eldest son Biff went to Texas to see his “girlfriend” Hailey – who I had never heard him ever mention before.   He couldn’t have been home more than two weeks when he hooked up with Jeanie.   He started out texting her and then spending time with her – once, twice a week which eventually turned into daily and is hardly even at home anymore.   Sometimes an entire week will go by before I see him – or even talk to him. He did call last night to report his engagement.   No surprises there.   A date has not been set so I’m thinking an elopement is still possible as they had talked about that several times before the engagement.   Biff has always kept his body in great shape.   He eats healthy foods.   He used to retire to bed early (6:00 pm at the time I met Roland, I kid you not) and rise early (4:00 a.m.) but working graveyard has changed that.   I think he’s slippe...

The one thing that I really don’t like about the bus system is the change in temperature.   Each bus driver has the ability to control how hot or cool the bus may be – or so that is my guess. The regular driver, who takes Jenna and me from West Valley to Tannersville each morning, keeps his bus at a comfortable temperature – the way I like it in my house and room.   The way I keep it when Roland’s away.   Windows open.   Fans running. Most of the older drivers keep the bus at furnace temperature – the way Roland likes it.   The way that makes me hot and uncomfortable and worn out.    Long before I got married and was working downtown.   Taking the bus in summer wasn’t generally that big of a deal – not like it was in winter.   I would always sit in back next to a window that had been pried open.   I would remove my hat, my coat, my sweater and whatever else I could.   I’d pant. Before arriving at my desi...

                  I believe it was 1996 when the freeway was in the process of a new makeover as Utah would be holding the winter Olympics in 2002 and the city needed to get ready for the mass transportation that would be involved.             I was working downtown and had chosen to ride the bus to my destination.   Often I would catch a bus which ran along State Street, but every once in a while I managed to catch the one that went by way of the freeway.   Either way I had my nose in a book during the ride.             I recall one day in particular I was reading the autobiography of a World War II survivor from Poland.   He was only a boy when the invasion started and described the horrific scenery – which to him was not so horrific - as he thought the dirt pit...

Shortly after Roland and I became engaged, he wrote me a mushy letter filled with sentiment and quotes.   One of the lines he had written was: “. . . as Pikachu say, “I choose you”” I had absolutely no clue what that even meant.   Pikachu?   I figured it must be a quote from some movie I hadn’t seen.   Not only had I never seen Pokemon, I had never even heard of it.     According to what I’ve read (or rather my understanding of what I’ve read) Pokemon started out as a video game before it became an animated cartoon that somehow made its way into the boys hearts.   The three knew all the Pokemon characters by name and site.   At least one of the three boys seemed obsessed. I don’t know where Roland may have found the time to sit down with his boys and learn the names of each character and whatever quotes.   But Pokemon has done absolutely nothing for me.   And after learning somewhat of its origin and based on a vide...

Beautiful for Me - Mercy River