(re-run) When Wiener, the ten-pound family Dachshund, was two, he started pooping in the upstairs hallway. This was not okay with me. I found a dog trainer named Sheila who came to the house and worked with the entire family. That first session was an eye opener. Sheila hooked Wiener’s collar to a leash, and… Continue reading Worst/Best Dog Trainer Ever
Cleaning Day and Armoire Memories
I inherited some Navajo stuff from my mom. My uncle had married a Navajo professor he met while teaching at Shiprock College (now Dine College). They adopted a Native American baby when I was twenty-two. Then my cousin’s wife’s aunt started advertising her Navajo rugs on Facebook, and soon I had four of those, plus a… Continue reading Cleaning Day and Armoire Memories
Please Ms. Postman
I was the only female in the place. Ninety-nine guys in their blue and gray uniforms watched me walk up to my case. I had on jeans, a summer top, and closed-toe shoes. It was going to be a hot one out there. It was 6:00 a.m. I’d gotten up at 4:45, eaten breakfast, thrown… Continue reading Please Ms. Postman
V is for Veritable Quandary
When thinking of a post that starts with v, the most obvious choices would be vacation or victory. I haven’t had either in quite a while, so I had to dig deeper– way back, in fact, to my college days. I went to school in Ames, Iowa, and long about my junior year, a new… Continue reading V is for Veritable Quandary
U is for Undo
Okay, so I’m not a complete techno-phobe, but I did come late to the party with smart phones. I still had a flip phone in 2013 when it broke on my Aspen trip. The Verizon guy in Aspen looked at it (it didn’t flip anymore) and said, “We don’t have those.” Of course not. It… Continue reading U is for Undo
My Two Gophers
(re-run) Now before you tell me that gophers are solitary creatures and that I only have one gopher, let me explain that I have a little beach house with a gopher and my regular house with a gopher. I am an Iowa girl, living in California. So both houses were bought because of the property… Continue reading My Two Gophers
The Sequin That Bugged Me
It was on my shoulder, and it was bugging me, one shiny sequin that I’d failed to see when I’d cut them off my second-hand sweater. It was a blue and green floral, found in a thrift store, hardly worn, but the sequins dated it to the 80s. So I’d cut them off, except for… Continue reading The Sequin That Bugged Me
Stuffing the Bug
My first job was as a waitress at the Iowa State Fair for ten days. I was 14, the summer before 9th grade. My friends and I worked the lunch shift, then had a couple of hours off before the supper shift. A girl named Virginia (a friend of a friend) from another school got… Continue reading Stuffing the Bug
How my Bug Collection Changed a Generation
(re-run) When my new science teacher announced on the first day of 7th grade that no one would get an A in his class if they didn’t make an insect collection, I was like, “NOOOOOOOO! I hate bugs!” My mother hated bugs. Her mother hated bugs. They hated mice, snakes, and dog poop, too. I… Continue reading How my Bug Collection Changed a Generation
Making Time to Write
(re-run) I used to write every day. That was back when I had sleeping babies and pre-schoolers that went to school on a regular schedule. Now that I’m an empty nester I think I am going to write every day, but then stuff happens. Like exercise classes and long hikes. Dog walks. Contractors. A sister… Continue reading Making Time to Write
