If We Could All Just Wear Green Glasses

So, I cut the lawn again on Saturday. Cutting the grass is just something you have to do. Back in May it wasn't such a big deal. Getting the old lawn mower started up again after the winter is kind of a rite of passage. The smell of the cut grass is nice and the lawn looks great after that first cut of the year.

You get into August and that special feeling has come and gone. By this time you've been cutting the grass just about every week. Yeah, its a chore now. The lawn doesn't look so great this late into the summer. There might be a lot of green things but there's not a whole lot of them that could be considered grass.

Who the hell established this whole thing about having a lawn in the first place. Here in New England, I gotta think that having a spread of nice green grass in front of your log cabin was not something the pilgrims concerned themselves with. When did this foolishness start? Did John Adams, after moving from downtown Boston out to the burbs in Quincy, figure it might be a great use of the land by planting grass. It's not a crop, you can't eat it, you can't do anything with it except cut it every week.

When you look around the neighborhood, why is it that everyone elses yard looks better than yours. You cut your grass and as your cutting you see clover, crab grass and some sort of purple looking thing. You look down the street and the neighbor's yard looks like the Augusta National. And, your lawn has an overall yellow tinge.

I guess it is a community thing. This is when we get to see our neighbors. Every week there we all are out there cutting this greenish yellowish stuff and taking solace in the fact that we are not alone. Everyone of us are out there cutting this damned shit.

A Cat and Mouse Tale

We have a cat living with us. The cat's name is Pumpkin. This is not a name I would have chose for a pet even if it is a female. We happen to have inherited this cat. The cat had belonged to my mother. However, a few years back, this cat, Pumpkin, had become ill while living at Mom's. Mom decides to call my wife, she knew Karen would try to find out what was ailing Pumpkin.

Well, Karen went to my mother's found that Pumpkin was indeed not looking very chipper. She took poor Pumpkin to the vet's and after a few costly tests, come to find out the feline is starving. Karen brings Pumpkin home to our house and after a few squares Pumpkin is her old self, again.

Actually, Pumpkin was much better than her old self. You see, Mom was never really that great with pets. I can't recall how many cats we went through when I was growing up, but believe me, there were a few. So, Pumpkin is liking her new digs. Karen is getting attached. My mother didn't mind just visiting Pumpkin. And, me? What did I have to say about it.

Anyway, it wasn't too long after this that my mother had a fall. After a stay in rehab, Mom ended up in a nursing home which became her last place of residence. This is how we end up with a cat living with us.

Well, now we seem to also have mice living with us. I would have thought that having a cat would not make the place terribly attractive to mice. Apparently, I was wrong. So, anyway, I've been counting on Pumpkin to do her job. I mean, I've been giving her free room and board for a few years now. I've not asked much of her until now. I've discovered Pumpkin is not cut out for this line of work. She would rather make strange sounds and watch mice. Instead of doing the damned job she is meant to do as a member of the cat species, she makes wailing noises like a banshee in the middle of the night and I jump out of a sound sleep to find her staring at a mouse in a corner of the room. So, now, it has somehow become my job to subdue the rodent.

Oh, yeah, did I mention, Karen is not too keen on killing a mouse. Oh, just catch it and put it outside. Of course, we all know it has come from outside. So, tell me, am I just catching the same mouse over and over again?

Snow Blind

There has been a lot of talk about snow in the last couple of days. It seems like as soon as the meteorologists predicted the possibility of a little wet snow for Thursday evening, the talking heads on every newscast have tossed that four letter word around like a hot potato.

Snow has become a four letter word, hasn't it. Just the mention of it, starts to freak people out. The weathermen get a chubby when they see it in the forecast and the news anchors repeat it over and over trying to scare the shit out of us.

This is New England. And, as far as I can remember once you have a few bare trees there's always a possibility of a few snow flakes. At what point did we start fearing snow like we did polio in the '50's? The newscasters are the ones breeding this fear. By Tuesday, they were all into it. "There's SNOW in the forecast!", "Yes, folks, we are going to have SNOW in October!" I think they are tying to send some people into shock. Drive by a supermarket and I'm not sure they haven't succeeded.

A rush on the stores is a byproduct of the snow scare. The snow word is bantered about and people are immediately out to stores for milk, bread, candles, batteries, shovels, as though they may not be able to make to Shaw's for a week. When did New Englanders become such pussies when it comes to snow?

Yeah, its snow. But, its still October! Whatever we get will no doubt melt before it hits the ground. If it does stick, it won't last through the next day. Why are we freaking over less than an inch of snow? Just wait until January, then we'll see some hysteria.

A Blog! What was I Thinking?

As anyone can clearly see from the entries on this blog and the dates involved, I haven't exactly been a fountain of literature here. I started this page while in a whimsical mood, thinking I would make periodical entries commenting on things I come across in my daily travels.

I thought the title would kind of speak for itself. I certainly think of life as one hell of a journey and I feel I've not exactly traveled it in 1st class. Steerage seemed appropriate. I probably would have gotten along quite well with the folks who traveled in steeerage back in the days of the steamships.

Anyway, I thought I would be writing interesting observations as I travel life's highways. Obviously, so far I have failed in that endeavor. So, it's about time I man up and get on with this thing. Or, just call it quits and crawl away as the little lightweight I may be.

So Busy

Not a single post since February. God, what an incredably busy life I must be leading that I can't take the time to jot down a few lines to all the followers of this blog.

Actually, could I get back to this. I just noticed there is a show coming on that I wanted to watch.

Who has the Time for THAT!

Don't you just love it when your flying along Route 128 enjoying a little sunshine after all the snowstorms and all of a sudden a sheet of ice and snow lifts off the roof of the car in front of you. There you are wondering if this thing is going to slam into your windshield. If there is a good amount of traffic, you can't do much to avoid this frozen projectile. Except to bitch at that asshole that did nothing to clean their car off.
Part of owning a car is to make sure it is safe on the road. When did people start forgetting about being safe for others as well. There's a lot of idiot's these days who go out after a snowfall and clean a space on their windshield barely enough to peek through then drive off into traffic. They don't have the time to clean off the six inches that coats the rest of the vehicle. So, screw the people behind them on a highway. A lot of people just don't give a crap about the other drivers around them. They want to get where their going and cleaning the car off is going to take up too much time.
I only hope all these bastards have to make a sudden stop sending the snow off the roof and into their windshields. That'll slow them down.

Hardy, Har, Har.

We have really been getting slammed with old man winter here in New England. We are on a scheduled track of at least one snow storm a week. Most weeks have an extra bonus storm thrown in as well. Yes sir, we are getting snow of historical proportions. But, life doesn't stop for us, work goes on, we have orders to complete and deadlines to meet. We drudge through this snow and sleet because we are hardy New Englander's. We can take what Mother Nature throws at us.
Of course, a few government offices have to close down just to lessen the traffic out there. Then, yes, the schools have to shut down. No sense having kids and teachers out there. Besides, there's one or two snow days every year, right?
Well, wrap your minds around this little factoid, you hardy New Englander's - today, February 2, 2011, is the first day in 12 years that the city of Chicago has closed schools on account of weather. I would imagine they have had a few flakes of snow in those 12 years.