Random Thought Series
Shouldn’t Ground Hog Day be a Monday holiday just like so many other holidays? Ground hogs would like an occasional three day holiday weekend, too. Of course Punxsutawney Phil would have to work on GH day no matter what day of the week it falls on. But that’s OK, after all he is getting time-and-a-half pay for that day.
My first car was very small. Sitting in the driver’s seat I could reach over and crank the passenger’s window open or closed without leaning over. The back seat was so small that a toddler would lack room to be comfortable sitting upright and facing forward. Like I said, it was very small. But small was fine with me as I was younger and more agile than I am now and I was usually broke so the economy of a small car was good.
The car was a red Fiat 500 with a manual transmission. The red had no significance, but the 500 identified the engine. Imagine such a little car with 500 horsepower. Oh, wait! I remember now. That 500 did not designate horsepower, rather it was the engine size in cubic centimeters. Today a medium priced riding lawn mower has a larger engine than that. But that’s okay. As stated earlier, I liked small cars with small engines because they are generally cheaper to operate. And this automobile was cheap to buy, also. The price was a mere $300. Considering that it was only three years old, that was pretty cheap, even in 1962.
Of course you get what you pay for and I did not pay for very much. Included in the price was a starter. Unfortunately, it did not start the engine. The starter was installed and attached but it still did not work. I never have been a mechanic so I didn’t bother to look under the hood, if you can call the cover in the back where a storage trunk usually resides, a hood. Even if I had looked, I probably would not have realized all that was wrong with this little vehicle – so why bother?
Prior to the purchase I was aware of the starter problem. There was no way to test drive the car without starting it. So with the standard transmission in neutral, we pushed it, I hopped in and pressed the tiny clutch pedal. I had to be careful to press only the clutch as all the pedals were so small (and my feet so big) and close together (the pedals, not my feet) that it was hard to press any pedal and not get the one next to it at the same time.
With the clutch disengaged, I shifted into first gear and reengaged the clutch. The engine popped to life and I was away on my test drive. The starter could always be repaired or replaced when I finished the three monthly payments and could afford to get the fix. It never happened. Oh, yes, three monthly payments happened. But the starter was never replaced – at least not while I owned this little gasoline powered toy.
This all took place in Dallas, Texas. I realize that this is a digression, but big cities are not my preferred choice for an abode, however Dallas is one of the better ones I have lived in. The weather in Dallas is some of the best I’ve ever spent time in. When I first moved there it was winter, such winter as they have in Dallas. Having been raised in Chicago, Illinois, where the lake effect snow is a common winter visitor, I . . . wait a minute, I’m digressing from my digression. Read the rest of this entry »
Random Thought Series
Why?
Six feet of dirt is an excellent insulator. Most of the year they are probably more comfortable than you are standing above them.
At a recent writer’s group meeting, the only female member of the group who was present was the organizer. She (CB) told the other writers who were present she had stepped on something on her floor at home. She had been stocking footed and what she had stepped on went through her sock and punctured her foot. After she bandaged the wound she looked to find the culprit. She had no success. It was a mystery and she wanted to find the object.
After she was back at home she looked harder and found a tiny shard of glass that had blood stains on it. No longer was the puncture a mystery. She emailed the members who had been present to let us know that poltergeists were not at work and that all was well!
This is the sort of thing about which ballads are written. Yeah, right! Rather than a ballad I’ve written a set of limericks.
There was a young lady – CB,
Who saw blood from her foot running free.
She asked with a sigh,
“I wonder why?
There’s nothing that should have hurt me.”
She quickly patched up the leak
And then she started to seek
Down on the floor
Whatever did bore
Her foot (and thus havoc did wreak).
Her first search seemed in vain
She looked little because of the pain.
She told this tale
To a group of males
But the telling brought her no gain.
To know not the cause was so hard,
But the options were not all barred.
She looked with a light
And soon did she sight
A bit of glass, one tiny shard.
There was blood on the glass – just a trace.
To her computer she did then race.
And then she did tell
Us that all was well.
And she did it through cyber-space.
Having written the above, I came to the conclusion that it is difficult to get both the cantor and the rhyming right in a limerick. This thought caused me to write one more (unrelated to CB) limerick.
Writing limerick’s is quite a chore,
Kind of like writing a score.
Please do not scoff
If my cantor is off,
Or I’ll threaten to write some more.
Random Thought Series
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer is on television tonight. It is on at 8:00. That is prime time. It is listed as a children’s program.
Should this not be rated “R” because of the content? What content? The fact the all the other reindeer bully Rudolph. Is this something we want to teach our children and grandchildren. Absolutely NOT! Nobody should learn to bully until they are old enough to be police officers.