"Letters to Miss Emily..."

[Edward Kennedy]

Good tales, Edward- speaking of varmints I got further clarification from my sometimes Boss Lady about that "path she wants cleared" at 545 Ocean so I reminded her there are at least 3 yellow jacket nests over the front doors.

You probably have them up there- they are a specie of hornet and if one attacks you the whole nest follows- I had mentioned this earlier to her but I suspect she was too preoccupied to follow through with getting them exterminated.

Luckily I can go in the back door to get the files she needs. But if she's going to show the building to clients those little devils need to go.

Go at night, gently take each and place in a plastic bag for burning later. You also can drive over the bag to crush them and garbage it.

First article I wrote in a tree mag had to do with me getting repeatedly stung while at the top of a tree on a waterfront property enjoying the view. I did not notice the nest hanging four foot from me but they soon noticed me and attacked. I did the fastest descent ever and at the bottom, had to pull the buggers off my neck and shoulders. My son was watching in an adjacent tree thirty foot away and laughing. The article paid a hundred US dollars.

[RedDog]

As a young girl my mother fell out of a tree taking a nest with her to the ground. Obviously she wasn't very high because the biggest element of the story has always been the gang attack on her after landing and her subsequent sprinting across a pasture screaming in terror as if on fire.

[backhoe]

The two of you will enjoy my morning adventures...

My boss lady sent me an email clarifying that “path” she wanted cleared- not outside 545 Ocean but inside from front to back so she could walk her client through the building.

With that in mind I loaded tools- new vise grips, a crescent wrench, a couple of hacksaws- in The Dead Miss Emily's Little Red Buzzbomb and hit the road.

When I got to 545 there was indeed a path from front to back if you didn't mind twisting & turning some- so far, so good...

She also wanted “the contents of the top drawer of the black file cabinet marked 'tenants...'” Naturally there were 2 black file cabinets... one marked “renters” and the other blank, filled with folders like for her elevator companies. “Renters” had people's names so I figured that was “close enough for government work” to “tenants” and took those.

Went on to 621 Ocean, her former office- she wanted the smaller signs related to parking brought back to her. Since it's a salt air environment I had in mind sawing the poles off if the fasteners were too stiff or corroded- but they were nice & bright.

Clamped the vise grips on the lower bolt, put the crescent wrench on the nut and backed it right out. Set the bolt, lockwasher, & nut in the car... repeated this with the top nut & bolt and when the sign came loose- there was a nest of pygmy wasps behind it.

They were hidden by the “U” of the post. Thank God for instincts- I let go of it, spun around and dived back in the car- didn't get hit. Drove to the far end of the parking lot- yep, the other signs had the same style post- and I'd bet each one has wasps or yellow jackets behind them.

I drove back and sure enough the wasps were swarming around the sign- and my new pliers. I went back to town, emailed MaryAnn about the situation, and pondered getting my pliers back before they “walk off...” If I had a pair of handicap tongs- like those of Lucy's we gave to Goodwill- I might be able to get them without getting stung. I might try a long pole...

And I just heard from Miss MaryAnn- besides all the other travails she had a tooth fall out- I can certainly relate to that. I told her to watch for chills or fever or shakes and if any of those appeared to get over to Doc Madray- otherwise not to sweat it. And we'll get together when we can.

-30-

[Edward Kennedy]

L
ife is exciting after all...for you...

[backhoe]

While waiting for the mail to come, contemplating the music of the spheres & what to do about my pliers I ran a “pygmy wasps” search and one of the links lead me to “Letters...” September of last year, a few pages before this one:

http://www.freedominion.com.pa/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=132803&start=3405



Lots of interesting things- I wish the web had been around for Helen- I wrote things in books that are largely lost now and of course they were just snippets

A recap of my Mother Alice's life:

http://www.grouchyconservativepundits.org/index.php?topic=36007.msg286172#msg286172

Well, that brought tears to my eyes...

I was still active in the Tea Party chapters and starting to see MaryAnn in person- I had an inverter for her. It's interesting to see the changes in voice and in focus that span those 9 months. One of the curiosities of Emily's facebook wall and mine is how “she” lost “friends” when I took it over, and I've gained them on mine.

The mail came with the gas bill and an offer of hospice insurance- thanks, but it's free here- and with that vote of confidence & a storm building in the west I decided it was time to take a gander at those pliers.

On the way over I thought about calling MaryAnn and dropping those files by but then thought better of it- if she was resting that's more important. And I really am quite shy about these things- funny, when I am with her in person I'm very at ease. And I wonder if she finds the same thing- we both had a lot of practice being around a spouse. When I read some of the web stuff- the frisky, you tango, and other man & woman relationships type sites some of the things I see about some modern men & women appall me. I really don't think I'd like dating nowadays.

The first question was “were the pliers still there?” and indeed they were- so I went in the wrong way through the drive in ( The Island's first... ) spun around and came back- I didn't see any wasps-- but they are tiny. When we had some on the porch back in Taffy's era I had to hire an exterminator to locate them- they kept stinging me and I could not see the Hellish little things.

But after watching the sign for a minute and seeing nothing I got out and snagged the pliers with the pole & cuphook I use to reach the ceiling fans' reversing switches. I headed home- thought about calling MaryAnn again, thought about stopping for a hot dog- got a closer look at the sky- what I could see of it-- and decided I had better hustle.

The Island has a very heavy tree canopy- some of the live oaks are hundreds of years old- and I didn't get a clear look at the western sky until clearing Marina Village- it was a wall of darkness. One of the features, not a bug of 63 year old bachelor/spinsterhood is a tendency to fret, so I fretted about Cole & the house & MaryAnn while driving in torrential rains.

All was well at home and Cole-boy was just a little soaked- those chamois’s Emily pulled from stock at Haase Farm Service dried him right off. I fixed a grilled cheese sandwich to tide me over to dinner and in keeping with 'iron rations & austerity ate half & saved the rest for later.

I'd kind of like Chinese for a change, but that extra quarter, the trip, the gas... guess it's frozen dinner time again.

-30-

[backhoe]

Life is exciting after all...for you...

"Interesting Times," Edward. Interesting times.

[backhoe]

Some more good old stuff:

http://www.freedominion.com.pa/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=132803&start=3450

[Edward Kennedy]

Life is exciting after all...for you...

"Interesting Times," Edward. Interesting times.

Yes, things were moving in the spring but slowed considerably, and now I am overwhelmed. A friend with a trout farm told me that all his clients who run businesses are finding things slow as well, but when it rains it pours and now I am overhwelmed and the phone has been ringing all day here. I am not complaining at all, and have some interesting cases in dealing with bullies who delight in intimidating alone and elderly women, harassing and trying to impose on them work they must do on their trees. I do enjoy ocnfronting such types, I despise bullies to begin with and my attitude is quite stern and non compromising. As usual, the bully is either a married woman backed by her husband or the husband himself.

last case I dealt with was on behalf of an elderly widowed woman against an individual whos edescent I will not mention. It ended with me establishing the solution and among other things, it consisted of me telling the cowardly bully to make like the birds and flock off.

You can see then why I hate lefturds, that bully was a lieberal liar, and immigrated to canuckistan when turdeau was in power. He was given a flag to wave, told to vote lieberal, and sent on his way. He never said anything until this woman's husband died. Coward.

There are many cowardly lefturd manipulators out there and heard one woman say to ne she would like to take a baseball bat to selct individuals. I should have married that one and would have in a different time and place. Damn, life is exciting.

All ya gotta do is defend justice and freedom.

[backhoe]

It sounds like you are doing good in a couple of ways, and I'm glad to hear it. Don't see much bullying done down here- even those who don't actually carry a weapon usually have something they can get in a hurry. An armed society is a polite society...

[backhoe]

And so it goes

Housekeeping notes 9-21-2011...

I can't say I feel much of anything about my upcoming 27th anniversary- maybe I'm just worn out by the suffering and don't want to do that anymore. Maybe it's because it really is a note stuck in the Dead Letter Office- it's just not going anywhere.

I'm more focused on solving the last few design/construction problems the lantern box poses- I like something I can put my hands on...

-30-

Tomorrow will be two years since I took one step- and stepped in to a whole new world.

I mention this because I realized with a start that I was more concerned about MaryAnn's fallen-out tooth and that 6-14, 9AM telephone interview with the food stamp people than with the second “anniversary” of my Emily's death.

But as I've mentioned repeatedly it's not so much the big things that get under your skin- it's the small stuff like the lightswitch in the hall Emily helped me replace. She held the light while I did the work and I described what and why I was doing things a certain way. We did the same thing with a defective switch upstairs in that central room- the one that has her chair from The Cat's Cradle...

I certainly never expected her to change a lightswitch, that is just how I work- narrating what and why I am doing things keeps me centered.

And it's all a dead letter now.

It's cool and the house is open. I need to drop MaryAnn an email inquiring about her tooth- I forgot to mention that an upset gut is another symptom of infection to look out for and that if the socket bleeds clamping a wet teabag on it is the best treatment.

I strongly suspect “Obama doesn't work” and “The economy is doing just fine” will become the meme or narratives or central themes of this upcoming battle for America. All I can do is vote against the Son of a Bitch like I did last time and hope we get rid of him.

He didn't work out so well...

-30-

[backhoe]

Inverter box... in going through some of that old good stuff from last year I read about building the box for that 2KW inverter I got- I thought I had pseudo blogged it as I was building it with pictures- but I saw none. Probably “intended” to do it and got so busy with constructing it that it slipped my mind.

Here's the box:



Open showing cables:



And what a 2 kilowatt inverter looks like:



In the synchronicity department a note on it says it was completed October 13th- that would have been my 37th anniversary with Helen.

MaryAnn wants those files today so I am standing by. In cheap thrills, one of her kittehs dragged in a still-live mouse... ah, nature! It's not for the weak at heart...

-30-

[backhoe]

IN CASE YOU MISSED YESTERDAYS’ PHOTOSHOP FUN, here’s one of the contributions.http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/144775/

[backhoe]

For fun things?

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/06/ssids-the-new-political-lawn-signs/

SSIDs: The new political lawn signs?

Mine was The LazyR until I had to reset the router. On some blog I read way before this article someone suggested naming yours "FBI Surveillance Van."

[backhoe]

We're in the awkward part of summer- the fans are almost cool enough but I'm feeling sticky- it's tempting to brave the 900 Watt power consumption of the AC and cool our quarters down. But besides not liking the closed-up feeling I have never established that the back bell button rings the doorbell. The front one does, but everyone since 1987 has been told “the button by the garage door...”

OTOH it's not like I get a crowd in here.

MaryAnn called and it's been one damn thing after another. The storm last night was pretty bad on the Island so she didn't get much sleep. There was business to conduct this morning and that storm revealed roof problems. And her HVAC system is acting up so she was tied up waiting for service guys. We agreed to get together one way or another tomorrow. Except for that 9AM interview I'm free.

We did talk about other things and I'm going to contact my accountant for clarification of some Social Security questions.

I really like this netbook compared to Emily's old one. One thing I discovered in the changeover was that old Pentax camera ( The one she gave me & then promptly took for herself ) had no drivers available for Win 7. I was kind of disappointed because that's the one I keep on the nightstand for casual snaps and didn't want to retire it yet. Then I realized I could just pop the memory card and read it. That actually is easier than using the camera cables. But its age shows- the card is a CF-- a compact flash, huge by modern standards. Luckily I have a card reader that accommodates it.

It's been a week ( Geez! ) since I backed the Acer up so I'm doing that now with Win 7 and I think I'll do a bounceback backup just in case. Comcast's free service was still down last time I tried it-- somewhere in all my bookmarks is another free service and I may try that. I really don't trust the “cloud,” but getting my files 'way off site has a certain appeal. Come fire or hurricane I would at least have some chance to get them back.

Maybe I'll feel differently at some further point but the two year coming of Emily's death just hasn't meant a lot so far- like I say, it’s the other, little things that get you...

I may content myself with de-stickyfying myself with another shower & dry bedclothes- the air coming in that newly opened window in the bay is feeling cooler.

I'm nearing the end of The Shores of Kansas and despite quirks it's still a decent yarn- the fella did good for a first book.

-30-

[backhoe]

The Man who Loved Cat Dancing...

Life is a funny thing... I've written a lot of words and in my day- so very long ago- I was considered a pretty good ad man- I was adroit at crafting phrases to persuade you to buy stuff...

Even had a few moments of local fame & glory. It all passes. Into the nevermore or the Up! & Out! Or the Oh! So! Very Far Away...

“Once Upon a Time” I was considered a pretty good fella to know. Long ago.

But in that long ago and far away I looked at things other people wrote and I do believe the prettiest phrase I ever beheld was...

“The Man who Loved Cat Dancing”

The Man who Loved Cat Dancing... the reference is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Wh ... at_Dancing

Yeah, I know it's Wiki, but they aren't too bad for things that can't be biased Leftward- for all the rest? At least they give you links to follow- but they are a poor source unless you use all the links.

Two years ago at this time the EMT's & firemen & policemen were dragging Miss Emily purple corpse out of the bathroom to lie on the floor. Before carrying her away.

I let Cole-boy sniff her dead body-- and I still don't think he knows she is dead.. In his simple mind I suspect he thought Mommy was playing some new & amusing trick and would eventually get up.

Except she did not, and I am left standing among the ruins.

No will. No money. No medical plan... Emily, you sure left me with a Hell of a mess.

It's funny how life repeats itself- Helen really never believed those two cancers she had could kill her- I was the one left holding the bag of “what the F**K do I do next?”

What, indeed, do I do next? I'm old & tired & alone. In six hours the food stamp people will call me and? I'll deal with them the way I always dealt with bureaucrats- politeness & flattery & a few artful dodges-- “I'm dyslexic... “ ( I actually am- I have trouble with forms & the written word. ) and “I'm hard of hearing...” ( Yes, it's funny how all those loud noises make you deaf... if I can read your lips I don't do too bad... )- and if that doesn’t work I can call a lawyer or three.

I don't know what you do with it- the love, the hurt, the grief... the sadness & the anger. The loss... what do you do when half of you dies?

What do you do?

The first time around it was My Own True Love I lost. Yes, there was fire & passion... and a lot of things I have told you about, and some things I have not- but she was my dearest friend.

Then there was Emily, the cool breath of wind who showed me that after the grand passion had burned itself out I could still love another woman.

The grand passion wasn't there- but still, I loved her. She, too, was my best pal.

I don't know where all of that goes, when it gets up and goes away from you.

I just do not know what to do, or what you do, with it all.

So I will hie myself up those long & winding stairs one mo' time... get cleaned up and face another day with two- count 'em, 2-- dead wives behind me.

Talk to the food stamp people... get those files to Miss MaryAnn... and carry on for another day.

I don't know what else to do.

It's another day in Paradise...

Or?

This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here...

-30-