Beneath the Wraps

Three weeks ago I was at a Roseburg service station waiting for a Greyhound bus.   I had purchased my ticket several hours earlier, but the bus was running late – so I was told by the worker who was frantically trying to wait on everyone.   He had us stand in two lines – those who were purchasing tickets for Greyhound and those who were patrons of the convenient store. Fortunately for him there was another employee working the pumps.   Whoever had been assigned to be in the store with him had called in sick, had been fired, or quit without notice.   I guess he handled himself rather well.   Poor guy couldn’t wait until ten when he’d finally be able to turn off the lights and call it a night.          There were probably about 15 people or so waiting for the bus going to Portland.   The man who had sold us our tickets said that the rumor was that the bus driver had had a nervous breakdown and had decided to wal...

         Jenna and I would have made the 7:36 bus yesterday morning, if we hadn’t had to reenter the front door to get her hat and pocket my cell phone. I figured it would be less than a fifteen minute wait for the next one.   I was wrong! We stood in the cold for 25 minutes before we saw the 8:51 ( finally !) – which passed us.   The 8:06  was right behind and stopped for us – and just about every stop between where we got on and where we needed to be dropped off.            I don’t know why the driver waited three to five minutes before turning around at the college.   Both buses were running late.              The  8:06 driver was a bit ticked off that he had to stop for everyone that the 7:51 driver had missed.   He seemed to take it out on the token machine as he kicked at it several tim...

Each morning as Jenna and I walk to the bus, we notice the sprinklers watering the lush green grass on the corner     and I think how nice it would be to have lush green grass. Never in my life has the yard outside of whatever house I’ve lived in, has there been lush green grass inviting my bare feet to run through it. For the most part, if ever I have been brave enough to go barefooted, my feet scream at me and remind me that there are dry patches among the green but still non-lush. I find that when I just wear sandals outside of the last two houses I have lived, the thorns and stickweed chock the life out of whatever we’d like to be growing.   They scratch at my feet and my legs and imbed themselves  into the soles of my shoes and often hitch rides into the house. We did not water this year.   Water pressure is down  devoting four hours a day to my less than promising lawn was not a priority.   Rather a waste of time ...

From my childhood, I remember seeing and hearing trains.   I remember being excited whenever a train would pass on the road and we would have to stop and wait for it.   My brother, Patrick, and I would often count how many cars were on each train.   My parents didn’t seem to be as excited whenever the arms of the railroad came down. A child’s perspective is so much different than that of an adult.   Mostly what we saw were cargo trains.   There were few encounters with passenger trains.    My grandma who lived in San Francisco would sometimes take the train.   We would go to pick her up downtown at the train station.        Patrick and I had also ridden on a train from Utah to Colorado.    We’d gone with my mom and my other grandma. I thought that it was exciting!   Especially going through tunnels.   And there were some LOOONNNGGG tunnels.   As I got older, I don’t recall...

         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 ...

Ever since I have given up driving, I haven’t made the time to go out and see Harold – mom’s boyfriend of five months or so – though I have written to him.   I sent the last letter on the first.   He just got it yesterday. Jenna happened to be off on Friday, and I found a way on public transportation that would get us close to Alta Ridge.   But our pass expired on the 31 st and I wouldn’t be able to get a new one until Roland got paid.   Jenna suggested that we go visit him after I picked her up from school on Thursday – but I knew that unless Roland was willing to pick us up from Alta Ridge that we would never make it home before him.   He told us to wait on our visiting Harold. It was really too bad as the weather was so awesome on the 31 st .   It was snowing when we left the house yesterday.   Jenna and I both wore our snow boots, It turns out we really didn’t need them. By the time I left Jenna at her school it had stopped s...

When I was younger there were two bus routes that I could catch on State Street near my mom's house.  The #7 to Highland or the #5 to Parley's way.  One of them went all the way to the zoo - but I don't know which one. When I was working downtown, the route names or destinations had changed.  There were four busses that ran along State Street between 6400 and 100 South.  I could catch the 25 Midvale or the 22 West Sandy where I had caught the two mentioned in the first paragraph.  Or I could walk over to the mall to catch the 24 East Sandy or 12 Murray.  It wasn't that big of a deal to walk from 6400 to my mom's house.  And even though 25 and 22 were closer, I preferred the coming home on the 24 only because I didn't have to cross the street to go back home. Thus far Jenna and I have been fortunate not to have to cross the street when we have ridden to school.  We even have the option of catching a bus near the school without hav...