Hi John…
Today was cleaning day. The place looks great. I have taken off our flannel sheets from the bed. I guess that means winter is done. Although it did not feel that way today. The March winds can be cold. I had to bundle up when I took the dogs for a walk with Jen. The field was cold however the dogs has a blast. Today was pass the flattened dried frog back and forth. Satori found it first. As I took it from her Julie swooped it up and took off with it. As she tried to roll on it I was able to bury it in some leaves. Those dogs.
Last night I heard from Barry. He returned a few days ago. The rest of the Townsend’s are in Buenoes Aires, Argentina. We may not be able to get Deb out of there. This sounds like a place she will truly love. There is night life, museums, Tango, Salsa music, good food and great people. They are having a ball. Right now they have a place rented until 4/7 and then they will move to another spot. I think they may be using this as their launching spot. Brit however is returning back on 3/31. Barry will get her and they will spend the night here. Barry needs to work and then they will head to New Hampshire to gather some of Brits things. She hopes to head back here to Vermont to work for about 3 months. Then it will be New Zealand. Exciting times for them. It will be good to talk with Brit and get the scoop.
It was also good to talk with Jleigh though email today. Her life is quieter without your calendar hopping. She too misses you. She will be talking one of her rescue pugs to their new home this week. That is so cool she does that. I forgot to ask if that was the blind one. I’ll see her next week. Seems she has to make a birthday delivery for you. Did you get me a pug?
Gabe asked an interesting question about our auto insurance. You know that we have a $500 deductable however since you hit an animal it was only a $100 deductable. Gabe was wondering what would happen if you swirved to avoid an animal and hit a tree. Well, I had to talk with Brenda through email and she said it would be $500. Poor animal. I told Gabe I would still swirve, if I could, and pay the extra.
We went t the chiropractor and stopped in to pick up Gabe’s board from Talent. Gabe said Dave is an expert waxer. His board looks so good. Dave also filled some gaps to keep this board good through the summer. This summer Dave will order a replacement board for Gabe’s Swindle board. Gabe also got a new winter coat at 50% off. Yeah. Next pants.
Gabe had an interesting science class these last few days. They split up into groups and then they constructed an experiment to be done on themselves to test an increase in heart rate. My first guess was taken…watching scary movies. Some watched sad movies and some stood out side in the cold. Guess what Gabe’s group did? Yes they drank Red Bull and checked their heart rates. They also understood that their heart rate may have increased just with the excitement of drinking Red Bull at school. He told me that the heart rate did go up a little. I like this type of test because so much of our pop media is based on tests just like this. Hopefully they will understand the difficulty creating and executing a simple test on humans.
He told me that someone at school told him he needed to drink 2 glasses of water for every Red Bull he drank. I told him that may have been due to the caffiene. I told him in the same respect people who drink coffee ought to do the same. I enjoy hearing him come home with the same things we heard in school like coffee will stunt your growth and chocolate gives you zits.
I found a large print copy of “Tuesdays with Morrie” on our bookshelf. I’m not sure where it came from however the large print was perfect for using on the elliptical due to the wobbly nature of our machine. So I just keep it there to read when I exercise. I really enjoy the book. It talks about how Morrie is in that state of simplicity. It is just about basic bodily functions and giving/receivning love. So simple. There is one bit where he is being interviewed by Ted Koppel for the second time. Morrie is identifying with a person who wrote him a letter. This was in reference to a death of a parent. So Morrie tells the writer that he understands because his mother died when he was a child. He says this with with tears and getting choked up. Ted Koppel says that was 75 years ago…and the pain is still there? And the answer was yes. No surprise there. Morrie doesn’t filter that out. He misses his Mom as an old man just as he did at each point in his life…getting married…working..having kids. Each step. I think you understand my point John. To live each point along that path in the moment of joy and sorrow intertwinned together. Bittersweet. That word “bittersweet” is just that…the bitter intertwinned with the sweet. Okay, maybe tonight I like language better. I think I’ll add bittersweet to the list of words I like.
Well I think I’ll go check out those clean crisp cold sheets. Sleep well. love…d
