Month: May 2020

When the Rescue Dog is a Ratter

Posted in animal adoption, animal rescue, animal shelter, birdfeeder, birds, continental breakfast, hotel, humor, Jack Russell terrier, memoir, plum tree, rats, relationships, shed, squirrels, terrierLeave a comment

(re-run) The timid white dog with the brown head wouldn’t take a treat from the rescue dog volunteer.  I liked her face, anyway, and took her home. Fast forward 18 months.  The plum tree in the back side yard becomes loaded with fruit. The platform for the shed which I stupidly put next to the… Continue reading When the Rescue Dog is a Ratter

Creepy Crawlers and my Sixth Grade Status

Posted in childhood, chorus, Christmas, Creepy Crawlies, farting, insects, Iowa State Fair, life choices, memoir, OCD, Octette, popularityLeave a comment

In 6th grade, my friends all got one teacher, and I got the other. I was put into a classroom with the kids who would grow up to be the popular ones that dominated high school. They were intimidating, even at the age of eleven or twelve. Connie Green had many matching sweater sets to… Continue reading Creepy Crawlers and my Sixth Grade Status

Love in the Time of Covid – 19

Posted in Coronavirus, Covid 19, hair dye, hair salon, hairdresser, lockdown, love, memoir, romance, shelter in place, widowersLeave a comment

The gray stripe on my scalp was getting wider. It had been 14 weeks since I saw Janice at my last hair appointment. I took a photo of my hair and texted it to her. “I miss you!” I said. Janice texted back and said that she’d been sneaking people in the back door of… Continue reading Love in the Time of Covid – 19

What to do on a Hot Pandemic Day

Posted in childhood, dad, dreams, family, Formica, kitchen table, memoir, memory, pandemic, photographs, relationships, siblings, weddingLeave a comment

What do you do when it’s 100 degrees outside and you’re in the middle of a pandemic? For me, it’s clean out another drawer or sort through another box.  I inherited all of my sister’s belongings three years ago when she moved here from Iowa, and today, while packing up a daughter’s stuff, a daughter… Continue reading What to do on a Hot Pandemic Day

Who Has the Bigger Butt

Posted in audience, babies, bet, big butts, coaches, Dachshund, dogs, in-laws, jeans, laundry, marriage, memoir, mother-in-law, photo albums, photographs, relationships, tact or lack thereof1 Comment

The family dog passed away last month at the age of eighteen and three quarters years’ old.  My youngest asked for pictures of him, so I went through a dozen albums last night sorting photos. It was time for a clean-out of: Babies if I don’t know who they are. Sports coaches I don’t remember.… Continue reading Who Has the Bigger Butt

Pennies from Heaven

Posted in college, drugs, Eric Clapton, firsts, head shop, high school, humor, Iowa, J.J. Cale, memoir, music, relationships, smokingLeave a comment

(re-run) When I was sixteen, I saved up my babysitting money and went downtown to Cottage Grove Avenue in Des Moines, where there was a head shop filled with incense, hanging beads, roach clips, black light posters and tie dye. Although I wasn’t a pothead (I didn’t smoke cigarettes either), I enjoyed the ambience of… Continue reading Pennies from Heaven

Freeing Up Space

Posted in Democrats, election, Etsy, Facebook, Gmail, Google, memoir, online sales, online shopping, pandemic, seniors, SPAM, storage space, technology, unsubscribe, Walgreen's, WordpressLeave a comment

Google has been telling me for days now that I am running out of storage space. Rather than bug my adult son about it, I bought extra space from Google. Guess what? It didn’t change a thing.  Still not wanting to bother my technological son in a pandemic, since he lives elsewhere, I used Google… Continue reading Freeing Up Space

Daydreaming on a Dog Walk

Posted in aging gracefully, animal rescue, animal training, astro turf, brain, dogs, language, memoir, neighborhood, neighbors, relationships, writingLeave a comment

(re-run) I get some of my best writing ideas while walking my dogs. My brain is free to think while my body is exercising. I am not listening to music or staring into my phone. I am enjoying the view. Today I walked Pepper, my almost four-year-old lab, while Daisy stayed home where she feels… Continue reading Daydreaming on a Dog Walk

Memorial Day Weekend – Hello to Summer

Posted in 4th of July, antibody test, barbecue, Barbie, beach, birthday, blogging, Coronavirus, Covid 19, dancing, extrovert, Facebook, foxtails, introvert, Ken, laundry, live music, memoir, musicians, phone, Zoom3 Comments

My next-door neighbor just told me that he had the Coronavirus in December, that he was down for 10 days, lost weight, lost his sense of smell and taste, and felt like he had a big rubber band around his chest.  He had to sleep in a chair because it hurt to lie down.  He… Continue reading Memorial Day Weekend – Hello to Summer

You Know You’ve Been Alone Too Long When . . .

Posted in Barbie, beach, board and care, care giver, Coronavirus, Covid 19, dolls, flight, hot tub, humor, intervention, Ken, Medicare, memoir, neighbors, pandemic, wedding, Zoom1 Comment

It’s week ten or eleven of the Covid-19 lockdown — I’ve lost track. I found out in a Zoom meeting last night that two more people that I know had a nasty virus in March that caused them to lose their sense of smell and taste. They are both well over sixty, as are the… Continue reading You Know You’ve Been Alone Too Long When . . .